Public Policy Commons^™

Ddasaccident025, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

There was a safe lane at the bottom of the embankment and deminers were working uphill from it. The victim had been working for fifteen minutes when he decided to clear a wire that was in front of his cleared area. He checked with the Schiebel detector and picked up a reading that he thought was the wire, so ignored it. He entered the uncleared area, cut the wire, and slipped back down the embankment.

Ddasaccident055, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators visited the site on 4th November 1997 and found the deminers clearing a 2m wide verge on both sides of the road. They observed that the deminers were clearing without using marking sticks and at a distance of only 6 metres apart. The victim and his partner began work at 07:30. By 08.50 they had cleared 502 metres. Both men wore frag-jackets, helmet and visor. The victim was clearing by using his prodder. He was called to help his Section Leader remove grass from a large pothole in the road. As he returned at 08:50 he stepped on …

Ddasaccident141, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim had got a detector reading, marked it and then started to excavate using a shovel and without wearing his helmet and visor. They said that during the investigation people pretended the victim has been marking the cleared area when the accident occurred but in the original accident report it was mentioned that the accident occurred during prodding – the investigators decided that "this is their pretext to confuse investigation".

Ddasaccident142, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victims went to check the Central Disposal Site. While checking that no UXOs were left (by hand) they uncovered some phosphorous which spontaneously ignited in contact with air.

Ddasaccident143, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that a dog had indicated a reading and Victim No.1 used his detector at the site and got two readings 35cm apart. He marked one of the indications and uncovered a MK 7 AT mine. Thinking that the second reading must be a fragment, he began investigating it carelessly and detonated the mine. His bayonet was "lost".

Ddasaccident222, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators concluded that the demining group had insufficient "lead-time" to properly plan the task, that the base-line was not marked and marking of cleared areas was inadequate and that the mine was below the depth that prodding and excavation would normally find it.

Ddasaccident223, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators found no fault with the company's SOPs but said that "insufficient planning and lead-time was allowed for the clearance team to be prepared…". They thought that the "contractual pressure created an atmosphere of unnecessary urgency", that communications between the demining company and the [QA] were inadequate and that the parties involved were all interpreting the contract differently.

Ddasaccident144, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was carrying four UXOs to a Central Demolition Site when he slipped and dropped the UXOs.

Ddasaccident145, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators found that "the ground was suitable for prodding in a prone position, but the victim was performing prodding in the squatting position. During prodding he failed to maintain the correct prodding angle and applied excessive pressure on the mine…it is presumed that the locator of the victim might not have been working properly…" The deminer's visor and glove were damaged, and his bayonet was reported to have been "lost".

Ddasaccident146, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators said that, "When the deminer registered a reading on the detector, he marked the reading and then started prodding in half prone/squatting position. After a few minutes prodding he approached the second marker and the mine went off".

Ddasaccident147, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the accident occurred when the deminer used only one marking stone to mark a detector signal, then prodded in a squatting position which "failed him to maintain the correct prodding angle". It is suggested that he was careless because he thought he had detected a fragment (having detected many fragments immediately beforehand).

Ddasaccident008, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

At 10:30 the victim was walking through the area to reach the rest area when he stood on a mine, thought to be a PMN buried to a depth of about 5cm. The victim suffered a below knee amputation to his left leg and minor injuries to both arms and legs.

Ddasaccident138, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The accident area was undulating and steep with dry earth and rock. The team had found "many" PMNs in the area prior to the accident. The deminer was clearing a safe-lane and was using a prodder to inspect a reading when a PMN exploded at 11:20. He suffered minor blast injuries to his neck and chin as well as small injuries to both hands in the dorsal area and his right shoulder. His visor and helmet took most of the blast. The victim walked out of the accident area and was taken to the Emergency hospital in Sulymania along with …

Ddasaccident224, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The team were finishing their shift for the day and the victim was asked to mark the edge of the area that had been surveyed that day. As he walked to that point he trod on an undetected PMA-3. The victim was later told that the mine had been laid too deep for the detectors to locate. The victim was wearing military boots, leggings, a frag-jacket, and a helmet & visor.

Ddasaccident148, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that Victim No.1 was scratching a mark to show the end of the breaching land outside the area actually cleared (he should have left a 50cm safety margin the other way) when his bayonet pulled the tripwire attached to the mine. The mine was three metres away from the deminer when it was initiated. They thought that Victim No 2 did not maintain the proper safety distance and so was hit by some fragments.

Ddasaccident149, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim did not use a tripwire feeler before using the detector, despite the known presence of tripwire mines. They decided that he then moved the detector head quickly and so pulled a tripwire with it.

Ddasaccident150, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim investigated a signal and found part of the handle of a metal spoon. When checking the spot again, the detector signalled again and the deminer did not re-mark the signal properly because he thought the signal would be from the rest of the spoon. He prodded in a squatting position and initiated the mine with his bayonet – which was "destroyed".

Ddasaccident237, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The document stated that the victim had been recently trained by the group he was working with. He was working in an area known to contain PMA-1 and PMA-3 mines. He was not wearing a helmet and visor and was prodding for mines. He was prodding with "a vertical stabbing motion" when he detonated a PMA-3.

Ddasaccident167, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The working area was covered with dense vegetation and the clearance work involved the removal of thick bushes and small trees. The victim had been working as the vegetation cutter and prodder man on the morning of the accident and had completed the clearance of his lane just before the lunch break. As he was returning he noticed that one of the stakes holding the marking tape was not straight so he attempted to put it right by pulling the tape. In trying to do so he walked along a fallen log near the edge of the lane but his …

Ddasaccident225, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

At 12:40 the two victims were at an appropriate place to site a spur, so the Team Leader instructed them to start a lane off to the left. The deminers changed roles, exchanging leggings and marking tape when they did so [only one set of leggings was issued per pair of deminers]. As Victim No.2 was withdrawing his partner asked him to pass the machete. He returned and did so, then walked away again. He was about five metres away when the mine detonated.

Eastward Ho: Issues And Options In Regional Development For The Metropolitan Boston Region, Robert C. Wood, Laura C. Ghirardini, Lori L. Prew, Aundrea Kelley

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

Conventional wisdom suggests that the basic job of public policy studies (and public institutions, for that matter) is to deal in a timely and practical fashion with pressing public issues of the day. The focus typically is on 'ripe' topics, 'hot' political problems. If a study can be ahead of the curve, in John Kingdon's apt phrase "an idea whose time has come," so much the better. But unlike more traditional academic research, where the focus is timeless — i.e., an explanation of previously inexplicable phenomena, timeliness is a prime reason for initiating a policy study.

In this context, analyzing …

The Future Of The Third Sector, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The U.S. "nonprofit sector" and other forms of contemporary national third sectors which are currently spreading around the world arose in a unique historical moment and for distinct historical reasons and are unlikely to outlast that moment in history. Voluntary action on the other hand has deep roots reaching far back in human history and is likely to be around far into the future.

Ddasaccident151, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the deminer located a tripwire and informed his superiors. Correct procedure required that the wire be pulled from a safe distance. The deminer pulled the wire from 30 metres while in a standing position.

Ddasaccident169, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Victim No.1 was carrying a DK2 fuse to the collections pit and dropped it. It exploded when it hit the ground. The victim was leaning over slightly when it fell and received injuries to his cheek and nose. The other two victims were close by and were hit on the back by fragments and small stones.

Ddasaccident168, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The victim was a prodder man and he and his partner had already cleared about 20m and had found about 30 fragments. At 08:30 the victim was returning along the lane after clearing some vegetation and trod on a mine that was about 11m into the lane.

A Snapshot Of Individuals And Families Accessing Boston's Emergency Homeless Shelters, 1997, Donna Friedman, Michelle Hayes, John Mcgah, Anthony Roman

Center for Social Policy Publications

This document summarizes key findings from a survey conducted on March 19, 1997 with 338 homeless individuals and 94 families sheltered or served by 33 of 40 shelter programs in the City of Boston. The data presented in this report were collected at one point in time. Point in time data results in an overrepresentation of the "longer term" homeless, and offers limited insight regarding the structural dynamics underlying movement from homelessness to residential stability (Culhane, Lee, Wachter, 1996; White, 1996). However, it does provide a snapshot of the men, women, and children who were spending the night in a …

Ddasaccident226, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

A local farmer had reported a UXO to the police. The team located the farmer, then parked their vehicle 50m from the accident site and walked with the farmer towards the suspected UXO. The farmer entered the field with Victim No.1 following. The farmer indicated the rough direction of the device and Victim No.2 moved up behind him. All three began to search, all within 1.5 metres of each other. The medic returned to the vehicle to be near to the medical kit. "Statements indicate that at the moment of detonation Victim No.1 bent over slightly and the other two …

Ddasaccident152, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators determined that the victim was clearing a breaching lane. He got a detector reading, marked it with a single stone, and began to prod in a squatting position. During prodding he initiated the mine. The victim was wearing a helmet and visor.

Ddasaccident153, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators decided that the victim had got a reading with his detector and investigated it but found nothing. He swept the area again and still got a reading, so without remarking the spot, he squatted to prod again [presumed to have been wearing his helmet and visor].

Ddasaccident154, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The investigators decided that the two victims were assigned a breaching lane to clear. Victim No.1 was eager to finish investigating a signal when a rest period was announced, so hurried and used excessive force. Victim No.2: was not maintaining the safety distance required and was also injured.