CASE STUDY
Burntwood_
Following on from unsuccessful remediation efforts, we deployed to site to tackle the present threat of UXO.
More than 3,500 individual items of UXO were recovered from the site. Through a collaborative effort with the Health and Safety Executive and the local council, we formed a plan to destroy the items on-site using explosive demolitions.
The items most frequently found on site were No. 68 anti-tank rifle grenades, which numbered more than 2,500 during our visit. Prior to our tenure at the site, numerous No. 68s were remediated by military explosive ordnance disposal units. Z-rockets, fuzes and land and sea mine components were also located alongside other items. Finally, small arms ammunition (SAA) casings were also found on site.
Our UXO disposal services
We deployed an armoured excavator to Burntwood to uncover UXO, supervised by an advanced-qualified UXO engineer wearing body armour and a ballistic helmet. The excavated spoil was fed into one of our four conveyor systems, to screen out dangerous items before reinstatement. During the project, we processed 80,000 cubic metres of ground.
Four conveyor systems were used for the project. Two labourers and one UXO engineer were assigned to each conveyor belt. Once an item of UXO was found, a dynamic threat assessment was made, and the item was dealt with accordingly – certified free from explosives (CFFE) or as UXO.
We stored hundreds of items of ordnance on-site in a protected UXO store, constructed to military and international standards of safety. This stockpile of UXO was managed by former army ammunition technicians and bomb disposal officers.
We completed over 100 explosive demolitions throughout the project, routinely destroying unsafe ordnance on-site across four or more demolitions per day. The quantity of explosives used never exceeded a total of 10kg, calculated through established safety distance formulae and using protective works. There was no safety incident involving UXO or the use of explosives throughout the project and the site was handed back to the client with an ALARP certificate.
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