Image 16. Showing the manual clearance of rubble in a multi- hazard (explosive and non-explosive) environment
WHAT HAPPENS IF HAZARDS ARE NOT MANAGED? • Misidentification of additional hazards can lead to MA organisations taking unknown or unnecessary risks. It can also mean that they grade the hazard with a severity that is not proportional to the risk, hindering operations from being conducted. • An inappropriate approach to managing additional hazards can lead to fundamental breaches of an MA organisation’s duty of care to their staff, with potential reputational and legal consequences in the event of an accident.
Desktop and non-technical survey should be used to gain information on task sites prior to intrusive search operations being conducted.
Four additional hazards frequently faced by MA organisations are reviewed below.
1.5.1. STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY An urban area that has been subjected to high-intensity conflict will have extensively damaged buildings and structures due to the use of explosive weapons such as artillery barrages, large air-dropped bombs and IEDs. Cognitive bias, as explained in IMAS 07.14 Risk Management in Mine Action, can hamper decision- making when assessing structural integrity. It is recommended that construction and engineering specialists from the development sector such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are involved in the management of structural risks. This does not mean they need to visit every site but potentially approved guidance can be developed that enables informed decisions to be made at the right level and for escalation when required. Experience has shown that damage to buildings, including partly collapsed structures, can easily be misinterpreted. Sometimes structural integrity has clearly been compromised, meaning that manual clearance of the structure will exceed the risk threshold. At other times it will be much less obvious and require detailed consideration. It is important to assess building integrity at the earliest opportunity to aid the organisation in the follow-on decision on the feasibility and the need for any specialist resources.
Introduction
104
Powered by FlippingBook