Living on the Seafloor. (Design Issues on Underwater Habitats. 5th part). Other considerations

A good design is always supported by backup systems, maintenance procedures, safety procedures and emergency procedures.

Support systems reliability [8]
Being complex systems that support life on extreme conditions, the reliability has to be high for each component. Backup systems for gas supply, power and communications are necessary to control emergency situations or failures.

Maintenance
Corrosion is one of the major attempting factors against integrity of metal structures underwater. A maintenance program of the structure, painting and integrity monitoring is necessary to avoid catastrophic failures. Maintenance of the life support system is also very important. Scheduled inspection procedures will ensure safety of the structure and the systems.

Cousteau Conshelf

Safety and Emergency
Risk is involved on underwater habitats and emergency situations can occur. Every situation must be tackled immediately with the backup systems, safety and emergency procedures.
Some of the situations that can occur on the underwater habitats and will require an immediate action are flooded compartments, leaks, decompression sickness or medical problems, lack of communications, power or breathing gases, structural damage, structural damage, bad weather, earthquakes, etc. Each one has a different effect and could have serious consequences if countermeasures are not carefully plan, maintain or effectively used.
Safety procedures must be properly accomplished to avoid emergency situations. Personnel must train on procedures in case of emergencies.