Bulldog Diving, Inc., president and CEO Bram Williams has been diving since training at the Coastal School of Deep Sea Diving in 1978. That grand old school of the industry is long gone, but Bram went on to gain experience and build his commercial diving skills, and founded this company in 1991. Now running the outfit with [title] Robert Sabolyk, Bram also handles business development, aids in technological innovations, and manages operations.
Bulldog Diving employs 12 to 20 divers on any given project, all of whom are well-versed in topside and subsurface work. We typically run 4- and 5-man dive crews. Four is a standard crew. If there is a fifth diver, it is generally because we added an additional piece of equipment, such as a hydraulic pump, that needs to be constantly tended while in operation.
A Bulldog dive crew always has:
• A diver
• A standby diver
• A tender
• A radio operator
The other three positions are all support for the primary diver. The standby’s main purpose is to function as a backup diver, should something go wrong or there’s an emergency that incapacitates the primary diver. The tender’s main purpose is to “tend” the diver; manage the lifeline/umbilical, hand tools to the diver, tend the diver’s air and fuel supplies, etc. The radio operator communicates with the diver, takes notes on the operation, relays communications to the tender, etc.
Each team member is trained to assume all positions, so when the primary diver exits his/her dive, roles are exchanged to support the next diver in the water. This optimizes the safety and energy of each diver on the job.
Bram is also the designer of our patent-pending MK3 Topside Positive Air Helmet, lightweight headgear that provides the protection from toxic gases that a traditional solid helmet does, but without the bulky and weight that can make working topside cumbersome, slow and uncomfortable. The MK3 also has designs being tested that incorporate Bluetooth communications along with the positive air flow that makes it such a great performer.
The whole Bulldog team is known for its innovation in the field, in response to previously unencountered situations that required solutions. For example, a project for DC Water required a diver to penetrate a thousand feet into a running sewer. He needed equipment that would allow crews to travel longer distances carrying a myriad of tools on board, while also providing a stable work platform. So the crew worked together to design and build a man transportation cart for active sewer line travel and work. A second cart was designed for short distances in the same environment.
It’s this type of can-do attitude; deep, diverse cross-training of each diver in every discipline; and unparalleled teamwork in an environment of respect that allows our crews to excel at the type of ultra-challenging jobs we’re known for. It’s also why Bulldog Diving is called to difficult, demanding projects the world over, from our humble Midwest headquarters.