A campaign contract gets read properly once, before you sign it, or read badly many times afterwards. The points that cause the most trouble aren't the eye-catching ones: they're who's really employing you, which days get paid, what cover you have if you're injured, and who pays for the trip home.
A campaign offer usually arrives in a hurry, with an attractive figure up front. The conversation revolves around the day rate, and the document that comes with it gets signed after a quick skim because you're flying out on Thursday. Later, when a problem crops up, it turns out the answer was sitting in a clause nobody looked at.
Before going any further, a necessary caveat: this isn't legal advice. Employment conditions, social protection and the applicable rules vary hugely from one country to another and according to the arrangement you're working under, and an international contract can be subject to a legal system that isn't your own. What follows is a checklist of what to ask; if something worries you, the answer comes from a professional who knows your case.
Who's really employing you
This is the first question, and the one most neglected. A campaign can involve a manning agency, a diving company, a main contractor and an end client, and not all of them are your employer. You need to know exactly which entity appears as the contracting party, what country it's based in, and who you'd claim against if something goes wrong.
It matters because everything else depends on it: who's answerable for your safety, who pays if there's an accident, and who a claim is brought against. A contract with a company you can't find anything on, registered somewhere you can't place, is a sign to stop and ask. Crewing agencies are a normal part of the industry, but it's worth understanding the exact role each one plays.
Related: what arrangement you're taken on under. Employee, independent contractor or some hybrid form aren't just labels, they change your cover, your obligations and your safety net. If you're not clear on it, it's worth understanding the difference between working self-employed or on payroll before accepting.
What exactly gets paid
The day rate is only part of it. What determines what you actually end up earning is which days count as payable, and that's where contracts differ most. It should be written down, unambiguously, what happens with travel days, mobilisation and demobilisation days, days on standby ashore at the company's order, weather days, and days of training or medicals required by the job.
Then there are the add-ons: depth or saturation pay, hours outside shift, public holidays. If they exist, they need an objective definition. A bonus described as discretionary is, in practice, a bonus that may never show up.
And the payment mechanics: in what currency, at what exchange rate if it isn't yours, within what timeframe from the end of the campaign, and who bears the bank charges on international transfers. A clause that makes your pay conditional on the end client paying the contractor first shifts a risk onto your pocket that isn't yours, and deserves at least a conversation.
It's also worth knowing who pays for what kit. Mandatory training, certificate renewals, medicals and personal equipment cost money, and if they're on you, they need to be deducted from the rate to know what you're actually earning. That calculation changes the comparisons people make about how much a diver earns.
What happens if you're injured or fall ill
This is the part of the contract that matters most and gets read the least, because nobody signs thinking it's going to happen to them. There are three questions that need a written, findable answer.
The first: what medical cover you have during the campaign and who arranges it, including hyperbaric treatment if needed and medical evacuation from the site. The second: what happens to your pay if you go off sick during the campaign, and for how long. The third: what cover exists for permanent disability or death, at what sums insured and under which policy.
It's not enough for the contract to mention that insurance exists. It's worth knowing who the insured party is and who the beneficiary is, what exclusions it carries and whether it covers the specific activity you're going to be doing, because there are general policies that specifically exclude professional diving. It's the sort of detail you check beforehand, not after, and the general picture is in the article on insurance and social protection for the offshore diver.
Duration, rotation and exit
The contract should state how long it runs, what rotation pattern is planned, and what happens if the campaign runs long or short. Unilateral extensions with no limit and no compensation are a classic source of conflict, especially when you have other commitments on the calendar.
Just as important is the exit. How much notice each side needs to give to terminate, what counts as justified cause, and what happens to accrued pay if the campaign is cut short by the client's decision or by causes outside anyone's control. A contract that lets the company end things with no notice or compensation, but not you, is unbalanced, and that imbalance is negotiable more often than people think.
Repatriation deserves its own paragraph. Who pays for your trip home, under what circumstances, and what happens if the campaign ends earlier than planned or you have to leave it for medical reasons. Being stuck in a far-off country arguing over who pays for a flight is a real situation, and one avoidable with a single line in the contract.
The small print that actually matters
Some clauses look like boilerplate but have concrete effects. An exclusivity or non-compete clause can stop you from taking work during or after the campaign, and its scope is worth understanding beforehand. A confidentiality clause is normal in this industry, but it should be reasonable in how long it lasts and what it covers.
The jurisdiction and governing-law clause determines where and under what rules a dispute would be settled. A contract subject to the law of a faraway country and to costly arbitration can be perfectly legal and still leave you with no practical recourse, because pursuing a claim would cost you more than the claim itself.
And the force majeure clause, which has taken on more weight in recent years, sets out what happens if the campaign is suspended for extraordinary causes: whether anything gets paid, whether you're repatriated, and who bears the costs of the time in between.
What the contract says about safety
A campaign contract isn't purely a financial document. It usually sets out, explicitly or by reference, what rules and standards the operation is bound by, what training is required of you, and what safety obligations you take on. That part is worth reading with the same attention as the rate.
There are two points with practical consequences. The first is whether the contract recognises, even indirectly, your right not to carry out work in conditions you consider unsafe, and what procedure exists to raise it. A document that expressly penalises any refusal to work, with no qualification, is a serious warning sign.
The second is who provides and maintains the equipment, and who's answerable for its condition. On operations where the equipment belongs to the company the answer is usually clear; in schemes where you bring some of your own personal kit, it's worth pinning down what's expected of you, to what certification, and who covers the cost of replacing it.
Finally, it's worth confirming what safety and survival training is required, whether it has to be current before you go offshore, and who pays for it. It's a real, recurring cost in this trade, and it comes up in negotiations far less often than it should, especially on short contracts where the outlay doesn't pay for itself.
Signs to stop and ask questions
There are indicators that don't necessarily mean the contract is bad, but do mean something needs clarifying before signing. A vaguely described scope of work. An employer not clearly identified. Pay conditional on third-party payments coming in. A total absence of any reference to medical cover or evacuation. Undue pressure to get a signature without time to read.
It's also worth being wary of verbal promises that don't appear in the document. In an industry where people move between projects often, whoever promised you something verbally may not be around when it comes time to deliver, and the only thing that survives is what's written.
Asking for time to read and putting specific questions doesn't cost you the job: it's what a professional does. A serious company answers without getting rattled and often fixes confusing wording without a fuss. How it reacts to those questions is itself valuable information about who you're about to work with.
And if you have doubts about a specific clause, ask beforehand in a professional forum or someone with experience in that market; a lot of useful information about how each company operates circulates in the community industry's community. For tax questions, which always come up on international contracts, the starting point is in taxation for the offshore worker, but the definitive answer always comes from an adviser.
Frequently asked questions
What's the first thing to check in a campaign contract?
Who's really employing you. A campaign can involve an agency, a diving company, a contractor and an end client all at once, and you need to know exactly which entity is your counterparty, where it's registered, and who you'd claim against if a problem came up.
Is it normal for travel days to go unpaid?
It varies a lot by contract and by market. What matters isn't what the usual practice is, but that the document expressly states which days are payable: travel, mobilisation, standby ashore, weather, training and medicals. What isn't written down tends to get resolved against the person doing the work.
Is it enough for the contract to say there's insurance?
No. It's worth knowing who arranges it, who the beneficiary is, what exclusions it has and whether it expressly covers professional diving, as well as what happens with hyperbaric treatment and medical evacuation. There are general policies that specifically exclude this activity.
Can a campaign contract be negotiated?
More often than you'd think, especially on drafting points like notice periods, repatriation or the definition of payable days. Asking for clarification and proposing specific fixes is normal professional practice and isn't usually held against you.
What does the governing-law and jurisdiction clause mean?
It determines under what rules and before which forum a dispute would be settled. It can be a country different from your own and from the place of work, which in practice can make any claim much more expensive or difficult even if the contract is valid.
Published 6 September 2026 · By Arthur More, professional saturation diver
Photo: infomatique · CC BY-SA via Openverse
This article is part of our in-depth guide to commercial diver requirements: the medical, eyesight and age limit — the complete picture, with sources.
This article is part of our in-depth guide to commercial diver requirements: the medical, eyesight and age limit — the complete picture, with sources.
This article is part of our in-depth guide to commercial diver requirements: the medical, eyesight and age limit — the complete picture, with sources.
This article is part of our in-depth guide to commercial diver requirements: the medical, eyesight and age limit — the complete picture, with sources.