The Underwater Research Group of New South Wales (URG) is a non-profit SCUBA diving club managed by volunteers who, even if they do hold relevant professional qualifications, do not consider themselves to be acting in a professional capacity. All advice given and actions taken are done in good faith, but the committee and agents of the club (including but not limited to the committee, dive organisers, and boat captains) take no responsibility for their advice, actions or omissions, negligent or otherwise. You cannot assume any agent of the club to hold any qualification other than Open Water SCUBA Diving Certification and, in addition, a Waterways boat licence if they are the boat captain.

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Your presence at any club diving activity is not in any way an endorsement of your diving skills and/or qualifications. You are wholly responsible for your own safety when diving with the club and are expected to use your own training and experience to determine whether you can safely participate in any club activity.

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Any fees levied by the club are purely there to recover running costs. No member of the club is financially rewarded for their services. Should you decide that you cannot safely participate on any given activity, you will incur no charge for that activity. It is your responsibility to ensure that any equipment you use, whether you own it or not, is in working order and that it will allow you to safely participate in any club activity.

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Members of the Club shall not be liable to any extent whatsoever to other Members of the Club who suffer injury or damages as a result of the intentional or negligent acts or omissions of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, or other committee members for the time being of the Club or of its Members or any or all of them.

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The URG dive club has a good record of safe diving. The club membership contains many divers with strong training, and vast experience, who conduct dives in a safe and sensible manner. This is something of which the club can be justifiably proud.

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In order to maintain this safety record, especially with the rapid increase of diving as a sport, the introduction of new members to the club, and to stay in line with safety practices recommended by diving organizations throughout Australia, the following safety practices listed below are required. Compliance with these requirements remains the responsibility of each individual diver and cannot be assumed to be monitored by the committee or any agent of the club.

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1. Each diving member should have an appropriate thorough medical examination every twelve months.
    

2. The following list of equipment is considered to comprise the minimum essential for diving with the URG:
    

   1. Mask, snorkel and fins

   2. Exposure suit appropriate for expected water temperature

   3. BCD, tank and weight system (weight belt or integrated weights of correct mass)

   4. Regulator, air pressure gauge

   5. Dive knife

   6. Emergency signalling equipment, including a surface marker buoy (SMB) and whistle.
       

3. All first stage regulators must be equipped with an alternate air source regulator (octopus or integrated inflator regulator) as well as a primary second stage regulator and an air pressure gauge.
    

4. All mechanical or electronic equipment should be serviced according to the manufacturer’s recommendations (usually at least once a year), to prevent incidents caused by avoidable malfunctions.
    

5. Tanks must be in test when used on URG sponsored dives.
    

6. Twin tanks are to be used by divers on deep dives, such as the Dee Why ferry, the Tuggerah and equivalent sites. (For our purposes a normal tank with a pony bottle of appropriate size attached shall be considered to be a  twin tank set-up)
    

7. Twin tanks must have their own independent regulator systems. This is to prevent loss of air from a malfunctioning (eg free-flowing) regulator where two tanks are joined to allow the use of one regulator system.
    

8. All members are encouraged to obtain or maintain current Senior First Aid qualifications (or better) and to be familiar with the use of the oxy-viva equipment on the dive boat.
    

9. The use of dive computers is required.
    

10. Where an incident has occurred during a dive the dive convenor must be informed, especially where it involves any missed decompression stops or insufficient time at a stop.
     

11. A member shall not dive beyond the limits of their experience and qualifications unless accompanied by another member of suitable experience and qualifications who is aware of the diver’s situation.
     

A Dive Convenor shall have the right to refuse to allow a URG member or guest to dive if their equipment, training or health does not appear to be appropriate for the dive, in the interests of the safety of all divers in the dive group.

 

A diver, by signing the URG membership form (new member or renewal), when applying for membership, shall take full legal responsibility for his or her own diving safety and agrees to dive in a manner that does not compromise the safety of others.

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