By: George Peterson, Paul Dimeo & Andrew Solomon
In the United States, there’s a legacy regulatory structure for occupational diving. For decades, zoo and aquarium exhibit diving occupied this gray area. The work performed inside exhibits and holding tanks for the purposes of science, education, and animal care is inherently high-consequence and oftentimes technically complex, yet it did not align cleanly with occupational diving rules written primarily for construction, demolition, and industrial maintenance. That disconnect persisted for more than 50 years.
On January 1, 2026, California closed that gap.
Under the revised Title 8, Article 152 (Diving Operations) regulations, Zoo and Aquarium Exhibit Diving is now clearly defined as:
Diving performed inside zoo and aquarium exhibits and holding tanks for the purpose of science, education, or animal care, which requires technical expertise and is not an integral part of an ongoing construction, demolition, or maintenance job.
This definition, and the operational standards that accompany it, finally aligns the law with the reality of how accredited zoos and aquariums have safely conducted diving operations for decades.
The spark: 2014 and the “Horcher” problem
The modern regulatory saga began in 2014, when an employer complaint submitted by the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI) prompted federal review of California’s diving regulations. The concern: California’s General Industry Safety Orders §§6050–6058 were allegedly “not as protective” as federal OSHA’s commercial diving standards. A subsequent federal analysis identified 18 subsections that did not mirror federal language.
Several proposed changes raised immediate concern for the zoo and aquarium community. Among them was the removal of the in-water standby diver, effectively eliminating the buddy system that is foundational to recreational and scientific diving safety. In the specialized, shallow, confined, and high-visibility environments typical of exhibits, replacing an in-water buddy with a topside standby could reasonably be construed as less safe, not more. Other proposals included eliminating long-standing depth exemptions, tightening artificial current limits, mandating chambers in scenarios where they provided no additional safety benefit, and imposing equipment requirements designed for offshore commercial diving.
What initially appeared to be a non-controversial “Horcher” (verbatim) adoption of federal language quickly revealed a deeper problem: federal commercial diving rules did not account for technical, exhibit-based diving at all.
Technical diving—and why California was different
California is unique. Six states maintain their own occupational diving standards, but California’s diving landscape is unlike any other. The state supports at least 16 accredited zoos and aquariums, thousands of occupational divers, and hundreds of thousands of safe dives annually inside controlled aquatic environments. These operations depend on techniques such as in-water standby divers (e.g., the buddy system), controlled use of hookah systems, and task-specific procedures, that were proven effective but invisible under federal rules written more than 40 years ago for ship husbandry, welding, and offshore oil work.
As Paul Dimeo, Dive Safety Officer at the Aquarium of the Pacific, testified repeatedly, “California’s regulations are different—but they’re just as effective. In many cases, they’re more protective because they reflect the work we actually do.” Data backed that claim: hundreds of thousands of zoo and aquarium dives conducted with exceptionally low incident rates.
Twelve years of engagement—and a turning point
In response to sustained objections from the technical diving community, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board removed the most problematic provisions and convened an advisory committee. In 2017, Paul Dimeo, George Peterson, Andrew Solomon, and Christian McDonald were formally named to the California Technical Diving Operations Advisory Committee. Led by Dimeo, the group would spend the next 12 years working directly with Cal/OSHA staff to develop defensible, data-driven standards.
That work included dozens of in-person and virtual hearings across the state, extensive written and oral testimony, and critically, live demonstration dives hosted at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Those demonstrations allowed regulators to observe, firsthand, how exhibit diving actually occurs and why certain federal assumptions did not translate to aquarium environments.
“Seeing the work in the water changed the conversation,” Peterson later noted. “It made clear that these weren’t loopholes—they were purpose-built safety systems.”
Federal resistance—and eventual resolution
Even after Cal/OSHA approved revised standards in 2021, the process was not over. OSHA’s Office of Maritime Enforcement challenged the rules, arguing they were not At Least As Effective (ALAE) as federal standards. Once again, the zoo and aquarium community had to make its case, this time at the federal level.
Ultimately, with assistance from David Kernazitskas, Senior Safety Engineer with the California Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board, the argument prevailed. Supported by operational data, advisory committee findings, and a pivotal federal appeals court decision recognizing aquarium diving as distinct from commercial diving, OSHA reversed course. The standards were deemed ALAE, clearing the way for final codification.
As Solomon summarized, “These rules finally recognize the full scope of institutions that rely on exhibit diving, and they do so without compromising safety.”
Why this matters beyond California
With codification effective January 1, 2026, California now has the clearest occupational framework in the country for zoo and aquarium exhibit diving. Because the regulations have been formally recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as At Least As Effective, they offer a credible model for institutions and regulators in other states navigating similar challenges.
Most importantly, the rules restore and preserve proven safety practices, such as in-water standby divers, that were at risk of being eliminated by one-size-fits-all regulations. After half a century in regulatory limbo, exhibit diving is finally defined, defensible, and aligned with the mission-driven work it supports.
As Dimeo put it plainly: “We’ve been doing this work safely for decades. Now the regulations finally reflect that reality.”
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