Commercial Dive Physicals — ADCI 6.5

Fitness-for-duty medical examinations for working divers, performed personally by a board-certified physician who dives. Built for Texas dive contractors who need their whole crew cleared without losing days to scheduling.

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For Dive Contractors & Employers

One physician for your entire dive crew

Commercial diving medicals are governed by the ADCI Consensus Standard, 6.5 Edition — an industry standard your clients and insurers expect you to meet. We run the whole exam battery to that standard and return a clean, signed fitness-for-duty determination for each diver.

We come to you

Rather than sending divers out one at a time, we batch your crew into a single consolidated exam day at your facility. Labs and imaging are pre-arranged in advance so the exam day itself stays short.

All-inclusive per diver

One flat rate per diver covers the physician examination, the required lab work, chest imaging, and the on-site diagnostics. No itemized surprises after the fact and no chasing separate vendor invoices.

Employer-ready paperwork

You receive the fitness-for-duty determination and work-status designation — not the diver's clinical file. Clinical records stay confidential with the practice, consistent with ADA and GINA requirements.

Scope of Examination

What the ADCI physical covers

Every element below is performed or coordinated as part of the exam — nothing is billed separately.

Performed on exam day

  • Comprehensive physical and neurological examination
  • Detailed occupational and diving history
  • Vital signs, height/weight, visual acuity, color vision
  • ENT examination and tympanic membrane assessment
  • Audiometry (pure-tone screening)
  • Spirometry / pulmonary function testing
  • 12-lead electrocardiogram

Coordinated in advance

  • Complete blood count (CBC)
  • Urinalysis
  • Lipid panel (divers age 35 and over)
  • Sickle cell screening (baseline)
  • Comprehensive metabolic panel
  • Chest radiograph

Specimen collection is scheduled at a reference laboratory near your crew; imaging is handled through our radiology partner. Both are arranged before the visit so results are in hand at sign-off.

Cost Control

Annual recertification isn't a repeat of the initial exam

The ADCI standard sets different intervals for different tests. A contractor who re-runs the full initial battery every year is paying for work the standard doesn't require. We track each diver's intervals for you.

Physical exam, spirometry, audiogram, CBC, urinalysis
Core annual battery
Annual
Chest radiograph
Not required annually under the standard
Every 3 yrs
Electrocardiogram & lipid panel
Age-gated per the standard
Annual, age 35+
Sickle cell screen & color vision
Established once, carried forward
Baseline only
We keep the calendar. Each diver on your roster is tracked with next-exam, next-radiograph, and age-gated test due dates, so recertifications don't lapse mid-project and you're never scrambling to clear a diver the week a job starts.
How It Works

Four steps from call to cleared crew

1 · Roster review

Send us your diver list. We identify who needs a full baseline exam versus a lighter annual recertification, and quote the crew as a whole.

2 · Labs & imaging scheduled

We place the lab orders and imaging referrals and schedule each diver locally, ahead of the visit — so results are back before we arrive.

3 · On-site exam day

We travel to your facility and work through the crew in one consolidated day: physical, neuro, EKG, spirometry, and audiometry on site.

4 · Determinations returned

Signed ADCI fitness-for-duty forms come back to you with each diver's work status. Records are retained per ADCI and regulatory requirements.

Why Dive with a Doc

The physician signing the form has been in the water

Examinations are performed by a board-certified physician who is also a certified Open Water, Advanced, Nitrox, and Closed Circuit Rebreather diver, with an emergency and occupational medicine background. Commercial diving medicine is a small field where the standard is a consensus document rather than a federal checklist, and judgment matters.

  • Examinations performed to ADCI Consensus Standard 6.5
  • Physician-performed — not delegated to a mid-level or a clinic rotation
  • Confidentiality handled correctly: employers get fitness status, not clinical detail
  • Serving the Coastal Bend, greater Houston, and the Texas Gulf Coast
  • Veteran-owned Texas practice, established 2021

Request a Crew Quote

Tell us how many divers you have and roughly when you need them cleared. We'll come back with an all-inclusive per-diver rate and proposed visit dates.

Pricing is quoted per crew — volume matters, and so does whether your divers need baseline exams or annual recertifications.

Start a Conversation

Or call 512-503-5034
info@divewithadoc.com

Common Questions

What contractors ask us

Does the physician need a special certification to sign ADCI forms?
No. The ADCI standard describes recommended physician experience and training, not a required certification. There is also no current federal checklist governing commercial diving medical exams — the original OSHA provision was vacated in Taylor Diving & Salvage Co. v. Department of Labor (5th Cir. 1979), which is why the ADCI consensus standard is what the industry actually runs on.
Who pays for the labs and X-rays?
We do. The per-diver rate is all-inclusive — laboratory work, chest imaging, and on-site diagnostics are covered in the quoted price. You receive one invoice.
What do we receive as the employer?
The signed fitness-for-duty determination and work-status designation for each diver. Under the ADA, employee medical information must be kept confidential and separate — so the clinical findings stay in the medical record with the practice, and you get the answer you actually need: cleared, cleared with restriction, or not cleared.
Can you handle an urgent diver?
Often, yes. If a diver is mobilizing on short notice we can route the audiometry and spirometry to a local occupational testing site and complete the physician examination and sign-off around your schedule. Call us and we'll tell you honestly whether the timeline works.
How far do you travel?
We're based in Corpus Christi and regularly serve Aransas Pass, Rockport, Port Aransas, Ingleside, and the wider Coastal Bend. Larger crews justify longer travel — ask us about your location.

Get your crew cleared without the runaround

One physician, one visit, one invoice. Tell us about your divers and we'll build the schedule around your work.

Request a Crew Quote