Using a Team Approach To Develop Site-Specific Ordnance and Explosives (OE) Risk Assessment. N. Navarro, D. Stralka, B. Davis, H. L. Black Polinsky, and E. Keegan, US Army Corps of Engineers, CA, US Environmental Protection Agency, Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., DTSC
This paper will provide a concept of how to develop an ordnance and explosives (OE) risk assessment approach, key lessons learned from its application, and the resulting method. To uniformly address the concerns posed by OE several installations need to incorporate an OE risk assessment into their projects. However, there is no widely tested, accepted or applied risk assessment available. As a result Ft. Ord developed a method to meet their team’s needs. The following approach was used to prepare a defensible, site-specific OE risk assessment. First the Project Team developed a Risk Assessment Focus Group assigned with developing the method. The Focus Group was comprised of representatives from the Department of Defense, regulatory agencies, applicable contractors, and a facilitator. This group worked together to draft an OE risk assessment method to provide a description and estimate the OE risk on former training areas. In order to develop the method, the Group completed the steps below. 1. Evaluated existing methods to determine applicability and to establish a framework.2. Reviewed applicable methods for input factors and scoring criteria and then selected the best approach. 3. Refined the chosen framework using risk assessment expertise, OE expert knowledge, and site conditions. 4. Drafted the OE Risk Assessment Protocol and conducted a beta test and sensitivity analysis of the method. 5. Finalized the method, based on preliminary testing, team and public comments. These steps were used to gain an in-depth understanding of; OE risk assessment, the factors that contribute to risk, and how they affect the overall risk. By working together, the group developed a defensible, flexible, and straightforward approach. This approach was used to support remedial decisions at Ft. Ord. Throughout the process we identified several pitfalls, lessons learned and success stories that could be used on future OE risk assessments.
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