An evidence-informed occupational health curriculum for pre-deployment preparation of aquanauts in underwater...

Underwater habitats represent emerging extreme workplaces in which pressure exposure, immersion, confined living, external underwater tasks, and delayed access to definitive care create combined occupational health and safety demands. Candidate selection establishes baseline suitability. It cannot, on its own, specify which preventive and response capabilities should be taught, practiced, and documented between selection and deployment.

We developed a scenario-based, evidence-informed occupational health curriculum for the pre-deployment preparation of non-medical research personnel. The design case was deliberately narrow. It placed three to six crew members in a 15-m habitat for 14 days, with topside telemedical support and limited immediate specialist care. Peer-reviewed studies and official manuals were mapped to mission phases, occupational and operational risk events, expected actor actions, and feasible non-medical performance. No Delphi round or validation study was undertaken. Internal project documents only defined the scenario.

The occupational health curriculum specification contains four domains, ten modules, and 28 observable learning outcomes. Emergency preparedness, physical self-maintenance, psychological and team functioning, and underwater operational safety are separated by immediate performance purpose. Together, the domains connect worker protection across routine prevention, acute response, psychosocial risk management, and task-specific safety. Three modules carry the psychological and team content. Sleep and circadian management, emotional self-regulation, and crew communication with conflict management are each specified on their own.

This article offers a preliminary occupational health curriculum for pre-deployment preparation that underwater habitat programs can adapt. It is evidence-informed and unvalidated. The framework addresses worker protection within a bounded underwater workplace while preserving the authority of diving, clinical, and mission-governance systems. Independent stakeholder review, instructor usability testing, pilot training, and analog-mission observation remain necessary before the framework informs any operational readiness decision.