1. AAUS Organizational Membership Application Process

2. Application Process Helpful tips
This primer is meant to give an overall description of how the OM application process should work, what kind of timeline you may expect and some helpful tips along the way. The more prepared you are in advance, the more quickly and easily this process will become. You will be contacted by someone from the membership committee to begin the application process - your AAUS liaison throughout the membership process. They may also assign you a “mentor” from your region: an AAUS member who can help act as a guide and answer questions as they arise.
Helpful tips
Your application fee must be paid online or through the AAUS office before the membership committee will contact you and begin reviewing your application. This fee is NON- REFUNDABLE.
Remember that ALL of the AAUS board and committee members are volunteers! You are welcome and encouraged to contact the AAUS office directly at any time if you have questions or feel you have not been contacted in a timely fashion.
This process will be more efficient if you are both patient and persistent!

3. Next Steps
1. Develop the application and OM profile 2. Membership Committee Review followed by Approval 3. Upload your OM’s dive safety manual 4. Standards Committee review/revisions of manual 5. Final approval by the Standards Committee 6. Vote by the AAUS BOD

4. 1. Develop the application and OM profile
Add a detailed organizational description and reason for application. The more information we have about your organization, the easier this process will go.
Provide detailed explanations in response to the four components of the OSHA scientific diving exemption. These answers should help the membership committee to better understand how well your organization’s diving activities fit with the OSHA exemption. Additional materials may be requested to support your answers.
Add the names of Dive Control Board (DCB) members from within the application/profile so that their applications are linked to the OM’s application. A short tutorial is available on how to complete this step at

5. 2. Membership Committee Review
Your liaison will look at your OM’s application/profile and then contact you to discuss questions, concerns, or suggested edits. The faster you respond to these changes, the more quickly the process will proceed!
If elements of your DCB members’ profiles need to be added or edited, it will be your responsibility as the OM representative to communicate directly with those individuals to fill in the blanks.
Once the Membership Committee has approved your OM’s application as complete and deemed it to be a good fit with AAUS, you will be prompted to upload your OM’s Dive Safety Manual online.

6. 3. Upload Dive Safety Manual
Once Step 2 is completed you should receive an providing you with a link to upload your Dive Safety Manual to your OM’s profile. IF NOT, please contact your liaison from the Membership Committee, the Chair of the Standards Committee, or the AAUS office about sending it directly as an attachment.
If your organization does not already have a Dive Safety Manual, you may begin putting one together at any time and upload to your profile when requested.
The Standards Committee will be reviewing your manual to make sure it either meets or exceeds the AAUS Standards for Scientific Diving. The AAUS Standard is posted on the website (under the link “About”) but it shouldn’t be viewed as a template to replicated. Your OM’s Standard should reflect its own unique operations & requirements.

7. 4. Standards Review of Manual
The Chair of the Standards Committee will submit your OM’s Dive Safety Manual for anonymous, independent reviews by two members of the AAUS community. The Chair will consolidate the suggested edits into a single check sheet and return it to you. Again, the more quickly these edits are addressed, the faster this process will proceed.
A dive safety manual is rarely accepted after a single review; you can expect to be asked to make several changes which you may discuss with the Chair of the Standards Committee.

8. 5. Standards Committee Approval
Once the Standards Committee is satisfied that all appropriate changes have been made to your OM’s dive safety manual, it will be officially approved by the Chair of the Standards Committee.
At this point, the Chairs of the Membership and Standards Committees are ready to bring membership in AAUS for your organization to a vote by the AAUS Board of Directors.

9. 6. AAUS New DSO Orientation
As of February 2016, all AAUS OM applicants are required to have their DSO attend an AAUS New DSO Orientation. These orientations are offered every year at our fall symposium and again in the spring at the annual board meeting. Your DSO will have 1 year to complete this requirement. Contact the AAUS office for scheduling.

10. 6. Vote by the AAUS BOD
The AAUS BOD meets at least twice a year and often more frequently via conference calls. You may need to wait several months from the time your application is complete until the next BOD meeting, or the Membership/Standards Chair may be working to complete your review in time for an imminent opportunity to vote (you can help with this by remaining in close communication!).
All AAUS BOD members will have the access to view your OM’s application profile and Dive Manual and they will use these criteria to decide whether your organization would be a good fit for AAUS.
If the BOD votes approves your membership, your OM will be invoiced for membership dues pro-rated for the remainder of the calendar year. If the BOD does not approve membership, the application fee remains non-refundable.

11. Ready to Begin…
Best of luck with your organizational application for membership in AAUS! Please don’t hesitate to ask or to get in touch with the Chair of the Membership Committee or the AAUS office if you have any questions or concerns Your completion code is Scuba!Dive. You must enter this on the website to continue with the application process.