Closed Bell Diver Training

JFD is excited to re-establish the world’s premier closed-bell diver training course in Fort William, Scotland. Fort William has been the world’s leading location for sat diver training since the 1970s: many sat divers who have trained here have gone on to have illustrious careers in the offshore industry.

The industry is going to need new, well-trained closed-bell divers for many years to come and JFD is pleased to offer this course which will play an important role in ensuring the industry has a competent diving workforce.   Adequate training is essential for divers entering into the field of closed bell diving.

The re-establishment of the course in Fort William will enable JFD to offer delegates the opportunity to train using industry-standard equipment and techniques at a world renowned diving location boasting year round training to depths up to 100m in a protected salt water bay. Training with JFD will give you the competitive edge and the confidence to know you’ve had the very best preparation for your new career.

JFD has extensive experience across the commercial diving industry from design and manufacture of saturation diving systems and associated equipment, hyperbaric rescue services and a well-established training centre which has offered courses to divers and supporting personnel since 1987. The experience and expertise of our staff enables us to support a wide range of commercial diving training throughout a diver’s career.

Improving the standards of subsea safety within the commercial diving industry has been a main driver for JFD for over 30 years. We are excited to re-establish the Closed Bell Diver Training course in Fort William to offer quality training, helping ensure there is a next generation of well-trained sat divers coming into the industry.

The diving facility in Fort William has been training divers for over 40 years and has long been seen as being one of the world’s foremost diver training locations.

• Real marine Salt water environment
• Naturally sheltered sea loch enabling year-round training
• Range of  depths up to 100m 

The saturation diving system also includes a Self-Propelled Hyperbaric Lifeboat (SPHL), giving divers the ability to undertake emergency escape training drills as part of the saturation diving course.

The facility offers a highly convenient way to train to regulation depth either beside our private pier or close to shore and within the town of Fort William.

The HSE Closed Bell qualification allows you to work at various depths using oxygen and helium breathing mixtures (mixed gas) and saturation techniques.

Taught by saturation divers with decades of experience, HSE Closed Bell training from JFD will allow you to take your commercial diving career to the next level.

Due to the high levels of competency taught during training, the HSE Closed Bell certification is accepted globally, so you can progress your career anywhere in the world.  The HSE ticket is also valid for life, so you won’t need to renew it at any point.

This course contains numerous bell bounces, including dives to 100m. At 3 weeks long, you won’t have to take a lot of time out of your working schedule to get the certification, and because everything is on one site in Fort William – with our deep dive site only minutes away from our pier – you don’t waste any time travelling when you’re on course, making the most of the time to learn and prepare for the job.

Additional Training

As part of our commitment to preparing you for sat diving work, the HSE closed bell course includes the option to do the IMCA ALST course at no extra cost.

Included in our course is:

• Practical introduction to using an SPHL (self-propelled hyperbaric lifeboat )
• Introduction to gas reclaim
• IMCA Assistant Life Support Technician (ALST)

Certificates gained

• HSE Closed Bell
• IMCA Assistant Life Support Technician

Our HSE Closed Belling course is recognised by IMCA under the IMCA International Code of Practice for Offshore Diving.

To attend the HSE Closed Bell course you need to meet certain pre-requisites. Please note that the pre-requisites changed as of 1st April 2016.

1. Surface Supplied to 50m* and HSE Surface Supplied (Top-Up) or equivalent**
2. Diving experience must be calculated as follows (No Training Dives allowed):
   1. 100 dives totalling at least 100 hours, none shallower than 6 msw and all in Surface Supplied equipment
   2. 20 Dives must be over 15 metres
   3. Only bottom time is to count towards the 100 hours
3. In-date First Aid at Work certificate. Certificates will be verified in advance
4. In-date HSE Commercial Diving Medical issued in the UK, Ireland, Norway or Holland

 *N.B. This qualification must have been held for at least 12 months prior to commencing closed bell training.

 **Equivalent diving certificates are those defined on the HSE website and do not include IMCA or ADCI certificates.

Please bring your signed and stamped logbooks to verify the dives you have written in the list above. HSE Medicals can only be obtained in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway or Holland.

When arranging return travel you will need to wait 48 hours before travelling (due to decompression).

All courses are taught in English, unless previously arranged, so you must have a good understanding of verbal and written English. Speak to our training team if you have any questions about the level of English required: training@jfdglobal.com

You are required to bring the following with you:

• Plenty of warm clothing
• High visibility foul weather gear (waterproofs)
• A pair of steel toe-capped safety boots

As part of this package you will receive:

• JFD Overalls
• JFD Commercial Diving T-shirt
• Manual and all course material on a tablet for duration of the course
• Manual on a pen drive to take away
• Submission to the HSE of Competency Assessment, upon successful completion of the course

During your course you will also have use of:

• Hot water suit
• Neoprene undersuit for under hot water suits
• Work gloves
• Dive knife
• Neoprene hood 
• Hard hat

For more information and advice about our training contact our training team:

training@jfdglobal.com 

Call: +44(0)1224 698 895

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we have introduced additional measures to ensure your safety while the pandemic still affects us.

These measures may change depending on national guidelines, but are currently as follows:

• Measures in all JFD Training Centres
• Wash stations at the entrance of each centre
• Sanitizer stations for delegates in all classrooms with instructors briefed to sanities all surfaces and equipment each day.
• Temperature checks upon arrival at the training centre .
• Signage indicating one-way systems around every centre
• Marking on the ground to set out expectations for maintaining 2 metre gaps
• Tables and chairs in classrooms places 2 metres apart
• Delegates are asked to complete a COVID-19 disclaimer prior to attending course

Additional measures for our Closed Bell Course at Fort William training site will include:

• Delegates will be required to isolate for 7 days prior to attending training centre
• Delegate must travel independently to training centre
• Delegates must stay in JFD accommodation (at an additional cost) for full duration of training, please contact us for further details
• Delegates will be asked to stay in isolation “bubble” with training staff and other attending delegates for full duration of training
• Delegates will be tested onsite for COVID 19 before starting training course