Deep sea divers live and work under extreme conditions. It is not uncommon for a diver to spend over 20 (and sometimes up to 35) days working underwater and living in a hyperbaric decompression chamber with very limited living space.
If a diver stays underwater, some amount of nitrogen from the air they are breathing will dissolve in the water in their body. If the diver were to swim quickly to the surface, it is just like taking the top off a fizzy drinks bottle – the gas is released as bubbles, in this case into their blood. This can then obstruct blood flow and cause symptoms such as painful joints.
A decompression chamber is a pressure vessel that allows a diver to complete their decompression stops at the end of a dive on the surface rather than underwater. This eliminates many of the risks of long decompressions underwater, in cold or dangerous conditions. They are used for longer periods of underwater work where repeated total decompression is impractical. These chambers have different living areas for washing, eating and sleeping, with divers on different shifts sharing the same space.
Currently, the chambers have no internet facilities, very little room to exercise and the bunks are cramped for taller divers. However, ergonomists at Coventry University have been applying human factors concepts to the design of a decompression chamber that would not only make them more useable and comfortable but would also provide a better health & safety environment for divers.
After having consulted published guidance on decompression chambers, the research team produced a questionnaire which was distributed to a group of divers, many of whom had 20 or more years’ diving experience. The aim of the questionnaire was to provide detailed information about what kind of activities divers would like to do in the chambers, the amount of private space that they have and their working shift patterns. This information provided the design team with an insight into the life of the divers in the chamber and the problems they experienced. The team were then able to devise a set of user requirements. These were not only to meet the divers’ physiological needs but in view of the long periods they spent in the chamber with little to do other than read, to meet their psychological needs.
One of the most significant findings was that the majority of the respondents did not exercise whilst in the decompression chamber because of lack of space. Yet most of them described themselves as having above average fitness and during their normal leisure time at home, would average 4 to 8 hours of exercise a week. Limited, uncomfortable seating in the living accommodation, a general lack of privacy and the disruption during sleep periods as a result of shift changeovers were all issues raised in the questionnaire. Designer and ergonomist Elaine Mackie summarised some of the key design areas that the team worked on.
“The new design needed to incorporate areas where different activities might co-exist such as that for entertainment and eating. Separate chambers for different shifts would minimise disruption to those sleeping and we felt that the overall redesign of the living areas would make them more useable spaces,” she said. “And with everyone else having access to the internet, we felt better communication channels were important,” she added.
The team’s design concept began as a series of computer generated drawings which were further developed to enable a full size mock-up to be built. A small group of divers were then consulted on the various aspects of the design and their feedback was to be incorporated in the final design.
“We were not able to resolve all the issues raised by those who filled in the questionnaires because there are constraints with space and working patterns but the fact that we have consulted with the user group of divers at various stages of the project has been important,” said Elaine.
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