Diving systems go through exhaustive checks during fabrication to ensure the safety of the divers and system operators. Minor chemical exposures that are acceptable under normal conditions become hazardous when a person is pressurized to 30 atmospheres in a special helium-oxygen mix. Assembling and instrumenting a diving system has living chambers, diving bells, and even a special lifeboat to allow divers to evacuate while under pressures that would kill them if released without the days and even weeks of decompression.
Diving systems are part of a family of pressure vessels known as “pressure vessel for human occupancy,” or PVHOs. Kemper Engineering is the only company with four members of the ASME PVHO Codes and Standards Committee, the technical body which produces the safety standards for PVHOs including submersibles, diving systems, and medical systems. When a PVHO company had a fire in an assembly building, KES got the call. We sent a two-person team out in less than 48 hours; Bill Crowley, who has decades of equipment fleet management experience, and Bart Kemper, P.E., our lead forensic engineer. Both are members of ASME PVHO.
Our team arrived on site and met the insurance investigators as they arrived. While their team had worked in industrial settings before, our team provided valuable knowledge and context to what a multi-chamber PVHO diving system entailed and the risks to both divers and system operations. Our investigation turned up key data, resulting in our report being compelling to the insurance investigation.
KES provides the right expertise and tools to resolve our clients’ challenges.
The fire started in the office region of the assembly facility and quickly spread throughout the building.