| Description | Tape 1 Side A VICTOR JOHN HUMPHREY born Surrey 03.09.1936. Family details. Grandfather killed in first world war at the Somme. Memories of paternal grandmother who had been in Australia in early days. She brought up children on her own, died at 93. Description of her. Childhood home bombed during war. Recalls watching dogfights. Maternal grandfather chief engineer, Hackney Hospital. Recalls relationship with grandmother. Details re parents who split up. Father a concrete specialist, later in army in Austria. Background to joining navy at 15. Impact of parents' separation. Recollection of childhood home. Describes parents' personalities, attitudes. Description of home in New Malden, relaxed discipline. Compares relationship with grandparents and own grandchildren. Feelings about religion. Parents' attitude to politics. Explains own political views, feelings about identity. Comments on devolution issue in Scotland etc; need for English Government to confront it, voice opinions more. Opinion re rights of majority and minorities. Influence of own experiences worldwide in Navy etc. Belief in team approach. Background to interest in joining Navy. Recalls school days. Joined HMS Ganges, Suffolk, went to sea aged 16 (1953). Became a diver for about 27 years. 1958 went to HMS Dingley. Details re first course in diving in Malta. Explains equipment used. Became a clearance diver 1957. Explains work including clearing aircraft crashes. Explains main rules in diving work. Training included swimming, use of heavy suits, emergency procedures. Compares emergency equipment now with early days. Examples of emergency procedures. Few major incidents during military diving career. Rigid training.
Tape 1 Side B Recalls salvage of crashed Hercules off Italy, recovery of bodies etc. Involved in a lot of aircraft recovery, sunken submarine in Portsmouth Harbour. Details. Worked on ammunition lifts off Singapore. Details. Explains dangers, precautions taken. Current problem with ship Robert Montgomery at Sheerness. Details re other naval appointments including Underwater Weapons Establishment trials team. Describes new equipment. Explains earlier arrangement of two branches of divers in Navy, standard and clearance. Reason for liking for diving work, reputation of divers eg in Falklands conflict. 1961-63 clearance diving in Far East. 1963-65 HMS Vernon instructor. Dived on Prince of Wales, Repulse in Far East with Bungy Edwards, boy seaman on Repulse when she sank. Details re him. Describes scene of shipwrecks now. Further details re career path. Explains in detail saturation diving, decompression dangers, use of 'taxi'. Decompression could take up to 40 days. Mentions deep trials unit in Hampshire. Explains pressurisation of body. Importance of teamwork. Divers known as 'pirates'. Explains. Describes problems with cold. Importance of sense of humour. Details re marriage, family. 1974 transfer to US Navy. Explains. Compares US/UK naval cultures. Impressions of US navy. 1977 left navy, joined commercial diving company, Oceaneering International Services as Safety Officer. Details re company, its history. Explains enjoyment of job. Example of assignments in Middle East, US, Australia etc. Mentions family life. North Sea involvement of company in drill ships. Explains work involved installing guidewires etc. High proportion of navy-trained divers in North Sea at first.
Tape 2 Side A Recalls own first interest in North Sea oil, presentation given in 1973. Diving Inspectorate of Department of Energy set up by Commander Jackie Warner who started safety culture for North Sea. Mentions increased depths being worked, casualties. Recalls contact with inspectors when working with Oceaneering International Services, powers of Inspectorate. Philosophy then was American. Details re diving casualties in early years. Normal cause of deaths poor training, inadequate equipment, poor procedures. Development of survival mode. Oil industry driven by finance then. Vulnerability of diving industry. Significant change through work in hostile, deeper water. Recalls accidents through system failures, entanglements etc. Effect of DoE agency agreement with HSE (Health & Safety Executive). Significance of new diving regulations 1981. Mentions post-1974 improvements. Explains formation of Association of Diving Contractors (now IMCA). Always cowboy element in industry, competition. Mentions other diving companies. Details re work as safety officer with Oceaneering. Had to stop operations on rigs for safety reasons. Explains role of 'taxi'. Pressure by oil companies not to shut down. Opinion re effectiveness, role etc of diving union. Present work dealing with complaints. Recalls complaints mechanisms in early days. Explains own approach to making people follow safety regulations. Early attitude of companies to regulations in Aberdeen. Importance of negotiation. Recalls work in Australia where union strong, negotiations there. Attitudes there to safety people, regulations. Own role then and now. Change in regulations in 1981, fewer deaths, more stable period. Reference to UKOOA, tripartite agreement re safety/budget/ timetable. Feelings re attitude of unions
Tape 2 Side B Further details re Oceaneering International Services. In Aberdeen 1977-81. Recalls American influence, changes, eg airport. Transport offshore by helicopter. Details re other companies dealt with. Problems with consultants, companies. Examples of pressures on divers. Mentions Diving Safety Memorandum brought out by Jackie Warner. Reputation of Occidental similar to that of others. Recalls divers' pay, extra pay for underwater welders. Explains routines, simulation checks on divers etc. Describes technical processes involved, life support units, decompression procedures. Change of job through redundancy. Explains. Appointed Senior Diving Inspector with Department of Energy (1984). Mentions incestuousness of diving industry. Details re changing hierarchy in DoE. First job inspecting diving systems with enforcement powers. Recalls using powers over failure of a dynamic positioning system. Explains technical details of dps etc. Reaction of company to ruling confrontation. Explains own doubts re situation. Acted as father figure to divers. Feeling held that prosecution means failure all along the line. Example of a prosecution involving electrical dangers. Details re what went wrong, outcome of case. Explains role as counsellor particularly when with Oceaneering.
Tape 3 Side A Current position, Principal Inspector, HSE. Details re responsibilities. Explains structural rearrangements post Piper Alpha disaster 1988. Recalls hearing of disaster from Occidental on night of explosion. Details of activities next day in office. Recalls being on Piper Alpha. Impression of it. Role of office in days following disaster. Subsequently sent offshore at same time as Red Adair. Later worked on recovered accommodation block at Flotta. Recalls impression of Piper after explosion, standing on it; recalls it swinging. Reference to vessel Tharos. Impression of Adair. Uncertainty re stability of Piper structure post-disaster. Describes scene of twisted beams, fires, days of work on scene before toppling by explosives. Recalls processes followed by Adair, raising of accommodation structure, transportation to Flotta 7 months later. Mentions contamination problems. Details re team routine followed in recovery. Recalls working with police searching for, processing of bodies immediately after disaster. Detailed explanation re remarkable discovery of a friend's body. Explains own way of dealing with deaths etc. Some rescue crews strongly affected by situation, needed counselling. Most of diving team on Piper Alpha survived. Explains. Effect of disaster on HSE policy, agency agreement. Details. Reference to Cullen Enquiry. Explains Safety Case that was formulated. Compares post-Piper Alpha disaster safety situation with situation pre-disaster.
Tape 3 Side B One of key issues post Piper Alpha in Safety Case to provide audit trail re responsibilities. Explains. Difficulty with volume of information. Mentions involvement in world record deep diving job in US. Recalls primitive, constricted equipment used then compared with today. Details. Reason for dive. Useful information provided for North Sea industry. 1991-96 spent standardising approach to safety cases. Need for consistency of approach. Explains changes in structure when DoE brought under HSE. Details of own area of responsibility. Reaction of DoE staff when brought under HSE. Recalls adequacy of numbers of inspectors under DoE, routines followed. Explains reduction in need for divers in oil industry. Mentions effect of tax regime. There will always be a need for a human diver. Explains. Feelings re current training compared with own military training. Compares employment opportunities for divers now with earlier days. Average age of saturation divers in North Sea now approaching 50, increasing likely to create problems. Compares saturation diving with onshore civil engineering work. Details re own responsibilities since 1996, change in regime, changes in diving job types including media divers eg ('lovies') for film industry. Extent of diving activities covered by HSE. Mentions arrangement with Ministry of Defence, Police etc. Explains approved Codes of Practice. Details re work on research and development, eg on long term health effects on divers. Opinion re future of diving in North Sea. Comments on fatality records. Need to guard against complacency. Explains. Dangers of commercialism. Attitude of Treasury, the industry.
Tape 4 Side A Need for HSE to remain proactive, detecting trends etc. Explains. Current attitude of oil companies etc. Problem with people lacking diving experience. Many people with experience leaving. Compares numbers of people in construction and diving industries as inspectors. Explains need to make business case re why diving inspectors should remain. Need for accountability. Compares situation with road dangers. Comments on recent proposal to replace standby ships with helicopters. Need for business case for any change. Feelings re opposition to change from unions. Own future: retirement in a few months. Reflects on career, work, diving, achievements, discipline, view of society etc. |