Diving Regulations 2025 - Health and Safety Legislation Consultations

The Isle of Man (IOM) holds jurisdiction over its territorial waters but currently lacks a comprehensive offshore health, safety, and environmental framework. To address this, the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) is reviewing and updating legislation to align with UK offshore Health and Safety Executive (HSE) legislation and standards, ensuring internationally recognised safety regulations for future offshore energy developments are in place.

DEFA welcomed stakeholder and public feedback on updated and proposed health and safety legislation through a series of public consultations to support future offshore renewable energy operations and provide clarity on the health and safety standards for onshore work.

The Diving at Work Regulations 2025 consultation ran from 29 September to 24 November 2025, seeking views on introducing formal diving safety regulations aligned with UK standards, attracting 4 responses from IOM Government departments and the Irish Sea Diving and Marine Services.

Whilst there were only 4 responses received, this was not unduly surprising considering the limited number of affected organisations that the updated regulations will affect. Importantly key individuals involved in diving activities on the island responded.

All respondents agreed that the IOM should adopt UK standards, reflecting strong support for alignment with established best practices. While only one respondent indicated that parts of the legislation require greater clarity, several comments highlighted the importance of clearly identifying Approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs) and associated guidance.

Three respondents requested specific support mechanisms, including training, gap analysis, and access to HSE diving medical provision. Additional feedback emphasized the need to consider exemptions for IOM Government diving teams and to ensure volunteer scientific diving projects are not inadvertently affected by the new regulations.

DEFA HSWI are grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to this consultation. 

The public consultation for the Diving at Work Regulations 2026 indicated industry would require a 3-year delay to their introduction to enable industry to prepare post any approval. Therefore, DEFA have approved submission to the CoMin, but following approval, the enactment date for the Diving at Work Regulations 2026 would be planned to be Jul 2029.