Chromatography Forum

For deep-sea scuba diving, divers use a variety of special gas blends of nitrogen, helium and oxygen. (And perhaps other gases.)

Surprisingly enough, there's not any special regulation by the U.S. government of the production, sale and distribution of these gases. They don't fall under FDA regulation because they aren't used for the "treatment of illness," but would seem to require a little more care than other "industrial" gases. OSHA has regulations for "breathing air," but not diving gases.

Anyway, I'm curious if any regulatory body in Europe has defined guidelines or regulations for diving gases. Does anyone know? Can anyone make an eduated guess about what body would, if they did?

Links in English would be most helpful. Thanks in advance.

In Europe it would be through the CEN Technical committee TC79 Subcommittee 7 (normally abbreviated to CEN TC79/SC7).

It's a complex area. There is a lot going on all the time. There are EN standards for compressed air (EN 12021:1999), EN standards for cylinder tests, for valves etc. Don't know about standards specifically for nitrox and heliox. EN 12021 is not just for diving. It also applies to fire and rescue services.

Of course the technical committee is not the actual regulatory authority. In the UK it would be the Health and Safety Executive who would issue guidance based on the EN standards or any other work it commissions. The regulatory authorities of some EU member states would be represented by experts on TC79/SC7.