BOSIET and the offshore tickets commercial divers need

Almost every "first offshore job" checklist lists BOSIET, but few explain why a diver needs a helicopter escape course, which of the half-dozen similar-looking tickets applies to you, or how the survival ticket fits with the diving medical you already hold.

This guide answers those questions from the standards themselves: OPITO's published training standards, the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) standard for offshore wind, the Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) medical guidelines and the US TSA rules for port access. Prices come from training centres' own published pages, with the date we checked them.

Why a diver needs a survival ticket at all

A diving qualification proves you can work underwater. It says nothing about getting out of a helicopter that has ditched in the sea, abandoning an installation in a lifeboat or fighting a small fire. Oil and gas operators require everyone they fly offshore to be trained for those emergencies, and divers are no exception.

The standard that most of the industry works to is set by OPITO, the oil and gas industry's training body. OPITO writes the standards and approves training centres; the centres deliver the courses and register your certificate.

Whether you need it depends on how you get to work. Divers on a dive support vessel (DSV) that sails from port may never board a helicopter. Divers who crew-change by air, work from a platform, or join a vessel in the field are flown out, and the helicopter operator or the client will not let you on without a valid ticket. Because agencies often cannot promise which kind of job comes next, most of them expect you to hold one anyway. Our guide to getting your first offshore diving job covers how that plays out in practice.

BOSIET, T-BOSIET, FOET and HUET compared

The names differ by one letter, and training centres sell them all on the same page. This table sets out what each standard is for, from OPITO's own standards library.

Source: OPITO standards library pages for BOSIET with CA-EBS, BOSIET with EBS, T-BOSIET, FOET with CA-EBS, HUET with CA-EBS and CA-EBS initial deployment. Checked 28 September 2026.

What is BOSIET?

BOSIET stands for Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training. It is OPITO's entry-level course for people new to offshore oil and gas, or returning after their certificate has lapsed. It covers offshore hazards and safety rules, escape from a ditched helicopter, sea survival and first aid, and firefighting with self-rescue in smoke. About 60% of it is practical. It lasts about three days and is valid for four years.

What is the difference between BOSIET and FOET?

FOET (Further Offshore Emergency Training) is the refresher. You can only book it if you already hold an in-date BOSIET, T-BOSIET or FOET. It repeats the helicopter escape, firefighting and first aid in one day of about eight hours. OPITO's rule is that the gap between completing BOSIET and completing FOET can be at most four years. If your BOSIET has expired, you usually have to sit the full BOSIET again, so diary the date.

There is a small bonus for planning ahead: if you do your FOET within three months before your old certificate expires, OPITO says the new certificate's date should run on from the old expiry date, so you lose no validity.

BOSIET or HUET?

OPITO puts it this way: BOSIET is "intended for individuals new to the offshore oil and gas industry", while HUET is "designed for offshore workers who regularly travel to and from offshore installations or vessels by helicopter". HUET covers only the helicopter escape. For a new diver whose first contracts are unknown, BOSIET is the safer choice because it includes HUET plus sea survival and firefighting.

T-BOSIET: the tropical version

In warm-water regions such as West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, operators may accept or require the tropical variant, T-BOSIET, and its refresher T-FOET. OPITO lists approved T-BOSIET centres in countries including Angola, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Thailand and the UAE. It is slightly shorter (19 hours against about 21). Do not assume a tropical ticket will be accepted in cold-water regions: if you may move between regions, ask the operator first, and the full BOSIET is usually the safer buy.

CA-EBS: why most courses now include it

An emergency breathing system (EBS) gives you a short supply of air if a helicopter ditches and turns over, which buys time to get out. The UK sector moved to compressed-air EBS (CA-EBS), which supplies air from a small cylinder. The OEUK medical guidelines record that in-water training with compressed-air EBS was introduced to survival courses in March 2018.

That is why "BOSIET with CA-EBS" (5750) has become the default course in the UK and at many centres elsewhere. If you already hold a BOSIET without CA-EBS, you can usually add the short CA-EBS module (5904) rather than repeat the whole course.

Your diving medical and the offshore medical

This is where divers often spend money they do not need to. Two medicals are involved in offshore work:

• The diving medical. In the UK, the HSE certificate of medical fitness to dive, valid for up to 12 months. In the US, the ADCI or employer dive physical. What it covers is explained in our guide to the commercial diving medical.
• The offshore medical. In the UK, the OEUK certificate of fitness for offshore work, which the 2026 guidelines say should be issued for a maximum of two years.

For the survival course, OPITO's standards list the accepted medicals: a valid offshore medical certificate, an approved equivalent, a fitness-to-work-at-sea certificate, a diving fitness certificate, or a medical screening form completed at the centre. So your in-date diving medical is enough to sit BOSIET.

For going offshore, the OEUK guidelines (Issue 8.1, February 2026, section 4.6) say that commercial divers who need to board offshore installations should have their "HSE certificate of fitness to dive" accepted as fitness to do so, and that "it should not normally be necessary to issue any other form of fitness for work offshore". An operator can still ask for an OEUK certificate as an exception, in which case a medical examiner can issue one to match your dive medical's expiry.

Check with the centre before booking which medical it wants to see on the day. Fleetwood Nautical College, for example, lists an OEUK medical, a valid sea-work medical or an AMED (diving) medical as acceptable for the in-water CA-EBS training.

Oil and gas vs offshore wind vs the US Gulf: which ticket for which job

This is the part training centres rarely spell out, because each sells its own course. The right ticket depends on the sector and region of the work, not on your diving qualification.

Oil and gas (OPITO)

For the North Sea and other cold-water oil and gas regions, BOSIET with CA-EBS is the baseline, refreshed by FOET every four years. OPITO says there are more than 240 approved centres worldwide.

Offshore wind (GWO)

Offshore wind uses the Global Wind Organisation's Basic Safety Training (BST). It is built from modules: First Aid, Manual Handling, Fire Awareness and Working at Heights, plus Sea Survival, which GWO describes as training to act safely "from shore to installation vessel (or WTG) and vice versa". Training records are held in GWO's WINDA database under your WINDA ID; a printout is not a certificate in itself.

GWO modules are valid for 24 months, according to large GWO providers such as Maersk Training, and are kept current with refresher modules. A BOSIET does not replace GWO, and GWO does not replace BOSIET. If your diving contractor works in both sectors, you may need both.

How much of BST a diver needs depends on the scope. A diver who works only from a vessel on cables and scour protection may be asked for less than one who transfers onto turbine foundations. Ask the contractor for its client's training matrix. Our guides to commercial diving on offshore wind farms and floating offshore wind describe the work itself.

The US Gulf of Mexico

We found no single federal rule naming a survival ticket for divers in US waters. Requirements are set by operators, helicopter companies and contractors. Training centres in Louisiana and Texas sell full OPITO BOSIET courses as well as regional and HUET-based water survival courses, and at least one large provider states that a standard BOSIET "is not automatically accepted" by most US Gulf operators, which ask for a Gulf of Mexico version. Treat that as a training provider's view and confirm with your employer before paying for anything.

What is certain in the US is the TWIC card. The Transportation Security Administration says workers who need access to secure areas of maritime facilities and vessels need a Transportation Worker Identification Credential. It costs $128 for a new applicant, is valid for five years, and TSA aims to respond within 30 to 45 days of enrolment. Apply early: many US diving jobs start at a port facility. For more on the region, see our guide to commercial diving in the Gulf of Mexico and to inland diving in the US, where survival tickets are rarely asked for.

Other paperwork contractors ask for

The survival ticket is one line on a document list. For an offshore mobilisation, expect a contractor or crewing agency to ask for most of the following. Our jobs and documents page has the full list and the agencies that place divers.

Sources: OPITO MIST 5301; OPITO IMIST 5312; TSA TWIC; HSE MA1; Maersk Training, GWO explained. Checked 28 September 2026.

Put every one of these, with number and expiry date, in the tickets table at the top of your CV. Our commercial diver resume guide shows the layout that agencies read first.

What BOSIET costs and how to book it

OPITO does not set prices; each centre does. These are published prices we found, with the date we checked them. They exclude travel and accommodation.

Sources: Fleetwood Nautical College; FMTC Safety BOSIET 5750; FMTC Safety GWO BST offshore. Prices as published on 28 September 2026; they vary by date and location.

How to book, step by step

1. Find out the sector and region of the work you are chasing: oil and gas or wind, cold water or tropical.
2. Choose an OPITO-approved centre (or a GWO-certified one for wind). Only approved centres can issue and register OPITO certificates; OPITO's standards pages list them.
3. Check the medical the centre accepts. Your in-date diving medical usually counts. Take the original.
4. Take photo ID. Fleetwood, for example, states that photographic ID is compulsory to attend.
5. Ask about shoulder measurement. OPITO's standard notes a shoulder-breadth measurement requirement for certain regions, including the UK. Ask the centre whether it is done during the course.
6. Keep the certificate number and expiry date, and add them to your CV and your document file straight away.

When to take it: before or after dive school?

For most people, after dive school, and ideally once a job is in sight. There are three reasons:

• The clock starts on the day you pass. A four-year ticket taken a year before you first go offshore has three years of use left.
• You may pick the wrong ticket. If your first job turns out to be offshore wind or inshore construction, a BOSIET may not be what that client asks for.
• An employer may book it for you. See the note above.

The exception is when you are applying offshore through agencies and the job ads say "must hold BOSIET". For a newly qualified diver or tender in the North Sea market, holding BOSIET with CA-EBS (and, where asked, MIST) before applying can be the difference between being called and not. Some UK centres sell BOSIET and MIST as a single week-long package for exactly this reason.

Once you hold it, the only thing to manage is the renewal. Set a reminder at three years and nine months: the three-month early window keeps your dates intact. Our guide to recertification and continuous training covers the other tickets a working diver has to keep current.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• OPITO standards library: BOSIET with CA-EBS (5750); BOSIET with EBS (5700); T-BOSIET (5501); FOET with CA-EBS (5850); HUET with CA-EBS (5295); CA-EBS initial deployment (5904).
• OPITO, Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST, 5301) and IMIST (5312).
• OPITO, "Essential Offshore Safety Training: BOSIET and HUET", 12 December 2024.
• Offshore Energies UK, Medical Fitness for Offshore Work, Guidelines Issue 8.1, February 2026: certificate duration, section 4.6 (aircrew and commercial divers), section 5 (fitness to train).
• HSE, Medical examination and assessment of working divers (MA1) (validity of the diving medical).
• Global Wind Organisation, Basic Safety Training standard and WINDA for participants; validity as stated by Maersk Training, GWO training explained.
• US Transportation Security Administration, Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).
• Training provider view on the US Gulf: FMTC Safety, "Is BOSIET valid in the US Gulf of Mexico?".
• Published course prices, checked 28 September 2026: Fleetwood Nautical College; FMTC Safety BOSIET 5750; FMTC Safety GWO BST offshore.

Published 28 September 2026. Figures checked on 28 September 2026 against the sources above. Found an error or a newer figure? Tell us.