The International Diving Institute (IDI) was a private, for-profit technical school in North Charleston,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Originally a scuba diving shop called East Coast Dive Connection (ECDC), the school was founded in 2004 when it offered advanced dive training, especially in the use of surface supplied air, underwater welding, rigging and hyperbaric chamber operation, leading to a certification required for commercial divers working on

oil platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

s in the offshore oil industry and for diving operations in the United States that are regulated by the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

History

In 1996, Sergio Smith, a former US Navy diver and member of its Seabee program, established a scuba diving shop called East Coast Dive Connection (ECDC), located in

Summerville, South Carolina Summerville is a town in the U.S. state of South Carolina situated mostly in Dorchester County, with small portions in Berkeley and Charleston counties. It is part of the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. Su ...

. The dive shop sold and serviced scuba gear and offered recreational scuba classes. The company was then turned into a school in 2004, establishing its campus in North Charleston, with

underwater archaeologist Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...

E. Lee Spence as a co-owner, and retaining the Summerville location as a dive shop. In 2004, it was renamed to International Diving Institute and the underwater welding curriculum was added. Both Smith and Spence have served as instructors. In 2016, 12 members of the Seabee Underwater Construction Team 2 (UCT 2) enrolled in IDI's wet welding course. Of the 12, only two people had previous experience in surface welding. In 2017, members of UCT 2's Construction Diving Detachment Alpha (CDDA) participated in the two-week underwater welding certification course.

Governance

IDI was licensed by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education as a non-degree occupational training institution. IDI is one of fewer than a dozen professional diving schools currently operating in North America. It is a member of Association of Diving Contractors International and trains to the Standards published by the Association of Commercial Diving Educators, the

American National Standards Institute The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

, and the

Sea Research Society The Sea Research Society (SRS) is a non-profit organization promoting research and education in marine science and history. Founded in 1972 by underwater archaeologist Dr. E. Lee Spence, SRS undertakes archival research and underwater expeditions ...

Admissions and school structure

Admission requirements are: 18 years or older,

GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

or high school diploma, US citizen, and passing a diving physical exam. Students are not required to have previous experience. ''Palmetto Business Daily'' reported that tuition to be $18,100 for the 2017–18 year with 21 students enrolled.

Curriculum

IDI offers programs in Air/Mixed Gas Surface Supplied Welding,

Underwater Welding Hyperbaric welding is the process of welding at elevated pressures, normally underwater. Hyperbaric welding can either take place ''wet'' in the water itself or ''dry'' inside a specially constructed positive pressure enclosure and hence a dr ...

HAZWOPER Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER; ) is a set of guidelines produced and maintained by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which regulates hazardous waste operations and emergency services in the United Stat ...

/ HAZMAT for general and commercial diving,

ROV pilot A diving team is a group of people who work together to conduct a diving operation. A characteristic of professional diving is the specification for minimum personnel for the diving support team. This typically specifies the minimum number of su ...

, Underwater Burning, and Diving Supervisor. Courses typically run for 640 hours over 16 weeks, and meet certifications for OSHA and commercial diving jobs. Of these hours, about half is classroom lecture and the other half is practical applications as required by Association of Dive Contractors International. Some additional training courses for certifications run another two weeks. Training is done on-site in the wet tanks, at the dive stations in the Cooper River, and also nearby piers.

Campus

IDI is situated at an old Navy base on the Cooper River in North Charleston, South Carolina. Its facilities include a two-story building with classrooms, offices, and work areas. Workshops include: metal fabrication, welding, a clean room for gas systems fabrication, and diesel compressor training area. There are hyperbaric chambers for compression/decompression. The school has three wet tanks. The main tank is 48,800 gallons and is 20 feet deep, and in 2009, a tube was appended to enable students to practice working in confined spaces. A second tank is used for installing in confined spaces with minimal visibility and also for rigging and hoisting. A third tank is used for wet welding. The school also has access to the Cooper River in which dive stations have been installed. The school has a dive shop that also services other divers besides the students.

Notable staff

* E. Lee Spence

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.idicharleston.edu Underwater diving training organizations Vocational schools in South Carolina