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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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2004

Series

AP

Articles 1 - 23 of 23

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Ddasaccident537, Hd-Aid Nov 2004

Ddasaccident537, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Deminer [the Victim] started demining in his lane no. 47. He set off a P4 MK1 antipersonnel mine with his right foot by stepping on it 07:10 am. Explosion occurred 2 meters from the end of the 27 meter long cleared lane in already cleared area. Deminer fell down to his front. He was not injured except for small scratch in his little finger due to falling. His boots did not suffer any damage.


Ddasaccident540, Hd-Aid Oct 2004

Ddasaccident540, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Deminer [the Victim] used his rake in normal manner. He set off a P4 MK1 antipersonnel mine with his 2-tooth heavy rake. Heavy rake bended but remained in one piece in the blast. Deminer was in perfect health and didn’t get bruises nor other minor injuries.


Ddasaccident533, Hd-Aid Sep 2004

Ddasaccident533, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

At 09.10hrs on the 22nd of September 2004, deminer [the Victim] was carrying out manual clearance using the prodding method on the northern side of Minefield 0011 at Ina Guuxaa. Whilst excavating earth at the front of his lane, he inadvertently detonated what is suspected to have been a P-4 anti personnel mine.


Ddasaccident416, Hd-Aid Sep 2004

Ddasaccident416, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

There is no definite explanation for how the incident happened. According to deminer, he used his tools slowly and correctly letting the rake to come towards himself by its own weight while pulling. Visual appearance of the incident lane supports this claim. Deminer’s raking tracks are visible, 50 cm in length and symmetrical.


Ddasaccident425, Hd-Aid Sep 2004

Ddasaccident425, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[Name excised] and [name excised] will be sending you a very detailed report in the next few days. After seeing the site and the deminer I am going to ask him to buy my lottery ticket in the future!!. He was extremely lucky. He detonated an M4 mine 200g HE less than arms length away. He sustained a broken thumb and lacerations of his first two fingers and his face was badly bruised due to the visor hitting him due to the blast effect.


Ddasaccident415, Hd-Aid Aug 2004

Ddasaccident415, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Experienced deminer uses his rake slowly and in a correct manner according to SOP. Suddenly he sets off an antipersonnel mine with his heavy rake. Heavy rake breaks into two pieces in the blast. Deminer remains in perfect health and doesn’t have bruises nor other minor injuries.


Ddasaccident534, Hd-Aid Aug 2004

Ddasaccident534, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The incident occurred whilst Deminer [the Victim] was carrying out clearance using the raking method in Lane 9, MF 14, Bisqua. The Investigation team came to the conclusion that the AP mine was disturbed previously by the roots of a tree which is situated approximately 1 meter away from the point of detonation.


Ddasaccident414, Hd-Aid Aug 2004

Ddasaccident414, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Experienced deminer sets up an antipersonnel mine with his heavy rake. There are two one inch thick bush roots lying horizontally in depth of four centimetres, twenty five centimetres from each other. Antipersonnel mine was situated between the roots. Instead of prodding the spot between the roots, deminer continued raking with heavy rake.


Ddasaccident532, Hd-Aid Aug 2004

Ddasaccident532, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On the 15th of August 2004 an accident occurred in MF011 in Guuxaa during clearance. [The Victim] was carrying out clearance using the rake method when he detonated a P-4 Anti Personnel Mine.


Ddasaccident424, Hd-Aid Aug 2004

Ddasaccident424, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Team No 2 was working to establish the location and dorecetion of the Mine Strip No 2 in the minefield HM-5 in area Thomaspuri. [The victim] was the Team Leader of Team No 2. One sub team of Team No , under supervision of [the victim] was clearing the working lane. Deminer [name excised] (mine detector operator) located a metal/mine signal. He immediately marked the location and informed the Team Leader. Then he withdrew to a safe distance. [The victim] Team Leader approached the marked location, searched for and recovered an anti-personnel mine P4 Mk1. He tried to neutralize the …


Ddasaccident457, Hd-Aid Aug 2004

Ddasaccident457, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[The Victim] started the work in lane 1. He worked near a metal barrel half buried in the ground, 1.6 metres from the fence. Before the accident he cleared 2 m2. He wore his PPE and had the necessary tools. He had been removing the undergrowth and surface metal pieces ahead of the base stick. He had been searching with his metal detector and had used the prodder and a trowel. When he worked only with a prodder, he investigated the whole area ahead of the base stick where the vegetation had been removed. Just before the explosion he had …


Ddasaccident459, Hd-Aid Jul 2004

Ddasaccident459, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators found that the main cause of the accident was “wanton violation of technical and safety procedures proscribed in the SOPs of the organisation and in the National Standards of B&H”. For this reason the primary cause of the accident is listed as a “Management control inadequacy”. So many basic safety rules were being breached at a site where there was known to be a fragmentation mine threat that the conditions must have been known to senior management. The secondary cause is listed as a “Field control inadequacy” because the field managers allowed safety distances and PPE rules to …


Ddasaccident536, Hd-Aid Jul 2004

Ddasaccident536, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Antipersonnel Mine model P4 mark 1 exploded during mine-clearance in minefield LK-257, Katkovalam. Explosion took place 1,5 meters in front of [Demining group] deminer while he was raking the uncleared lane with heavy rake. Deminer fell backwards to his bottom and lost his hearing and vision for few minutes. His visor (head protection) was hit by little stones and fell off. Fragmentation vest (body protection) took some punches too. After 15 minutes he recovered to mentally and physically normal state. He did not have any wounds, bruises nor pain anywhere in medic’s full body inspection. Nevertheless, he was evacuated against …


Ddasaccident417, Hd-Aid Jul 2004

Ddasaccident417, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The BOI could not establish conclusively why the accident took place, as no eyewitnesses saw the incident at the time of the explosion. However, it was obvious that the deminer had his visor up at the time of the explosion. Damage and blast marks to the inside of the visor could only have accrued if the visor was up at the time of the explosion. The deminer insisted that the visor was down at the time of the explosion but could give no explanation for why the accident had taken place. It is the opinion of the BOI that the …


Ddasaccident442, Hd-Aid Jul 2004

Ddasaccident442, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The lane followed a P4 AP blast mine strip where [the Victim] had found three mines the previous day. On the morning of the accident [the Victim] had worked one half hour shift from 07.30 hrs to 08.00hrs before having breakfast from 08.00 hrs to 08.30 hrs. [The Victim] then started his second half hour shift at 08.30hrs, with his half section BD3. The accident took place at 08.40hrs, ten minutes into [the Victim]’s second half hour shift. At the time of the accident [the Victim] was using a heavy rake on the first phase of the three phase raking …


Ddasaccident413, Hd-Aid Jun 2004

Ddasaccident413, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

I am the section leader of Team 07 – 2 Southern Group at 10.15 while we all were at rest area on rest suddenly heard an explosion and saw smoke coming from close to bund. At once I went to the site of the explosion of the spot and I found the water tanker was on uncleared area and with no damage or injury. So I instructed to driver reverse the vehicle using the same track. Driver followed me.


Ddasaccident580, Hd-Aid Jun 2004

Ddasaccident580, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[The Victim] left [Demining NGO] Camp to personally respond to the information provided by the two children regarding two No 4 anti-personnel landmines on the Umm Serdiba mountain. This was a known minefield and adjacent to a second known mountain also containing landmines in Umm Serdiba. [The Victim] attempted to neutralize two landmines instead of marking and reporting the mines in accordance with established procedures.


Ddasaccident412, Hd-Aid Jun 2004

Ddasaccident412, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The deminer was working in his clearance lane using a heavy rake to excavate the ground. The ground was very hard and use of the light rake was limited. At approximately 08:55hrs an explosion occurred under the rake.”


Ddasaccident545, Hd-Aid May 2004

Ddasaccident545, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On May 19, 2004 all deminers were called back to restart clearance operations on the minefield 603 in Darlaman after the first 10 minutes break. [The Victim] also went to his lane and started operations. Using the mine detector he found a signal and marked the area by a red marker. He was setting in kneeling position in an up hill and sloppy [sloping] portion of the field and while he had his personal protective suit and visor on started to prod the area using a bayonet and during the prodding he touched the mine and it went off.


Ddasaccident531, Hd-Aid Mar 2004

Ddasaccident531, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[The Victim], deminer, at the time of the accident his role was to act as vegetation remover. At approximately 10:20 hrs after completing vegetation removal drill, he called his peer to conduct detection drill, then he told his peer that he would go to the toilet. The toilet in the cleared minefield was constructed at the north of the cleared area, but he went outside the minefield boundary into the uncleared area instead of going to the toilet. Then he stepped on a mine just one step from the minefield boundary, buried in the walking track that villagers frequently use …


Ddasaccident458, Hd-Aid Mar 2004

Ddasaccident458, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[The Victim] was going away from the lane. At about 10 m distance from [Name removed], who approached the base line, he slipped with his left foot below the tape into a non-examined part of the minefield and activated a PMA-3. The working path was narrower there because of a larger rock. After the explosion, [the Victim] fell into the working path, but with his legs lying in the non-examined part. Deminer [Name removed] pulled him out into the cleared part. The tip of the left shoe was damaged. It was taken off.


Ddasaccident530, Hd-Aid Mar 2004

Ddasaccident530, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Details of this accident have been withheld by the demining NGO that employed the Victim. A spreadsheet including the Victim’s name and very brief details of the accident was made available in 2007. Some detail can be inferred from the information made available. For example, the fact that six people were injured during excavation of a small AP blast mine implies that safety distances were being ignored and field discipline was low. The main Victim also suffered head injuries that indicate that his head protection and visor were not being worn.


Ddasaccident411, Hd-Aid Feb 2004

Ddasaccident411, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The deminer was working in his clearance lane using a heavy rake to excavate the ground. The ground was very hard and use of the light rake was limited. At approximately 0710hrs an explosion occurred under the rake. The deminer was not wearing his visor correctly and as a result incurred facial injuries as outlined below.