How Igne battled birds and bombs in the Orkney Islands
In 2020, Igne's UK land team took on an atypical project in the Orkney Islands. While the services provided were normal (UXO risk mitigation ), some …
EOD Services
Igne's explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) services are designed to keep your people and projects safe from the risk of encountering unexploded ordnance (UXO).
EOD Watching Brief
A watching brief (also known as watch and brief) can save you significant time and money. By having an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) expert on your site, suspicious items can be quickly identified or discounted as potential UXO.
About
What is an EOD watching brief?
A watching brief is when an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) engineer observes the work performed on your site (e.g. shallow excavations on a brownfield site), and is available to identify or discount anything that's unearthed that looks suspicious.
When to use
When are EOD watching briefs required?
In areas where the ground conditions are not suitable for pro-active surveys (such as intrusive and non-intrusive surveys), EOD on-site support can provide a reactive response to any suspicious object that may be encountered during open excavation works.
Whilst doing so, Igne's EOD personnel can also provide UXO safety and awareness briefings (or toolbox briefings) to any staff on your site, and can advise site staff of the need to modify working practices in relation to ordnance risk.
What happens
How does it work?
Igne will provide your site with a specialist EOD engineer who will watch over all of your works. Additionally, the EOD engineer will provide all on-site personnel with a toolbox talk, instructing them on how to identify and react in the event of the discovery of UXO.
If a suspicious item is unearthed or detected, the EOD engineer will carefully assess it, confirming whether or not it is UXO. This saves you, the client, time and money. Work on your site will not have to be haulted or postponed whilst waiting for an on-call EOD expert to arrive.
If the unearthed item is indeed UXO, the EOD engineer will then identify whether the item of UXO is live or inert. Accordingly, necessary, pre-defined safety precautions will then be enacted, and all members of the site will be notified of the discovery. The item of UXO will then be removed from the site or safely disposed of so that work may swiftly continue.
Search and Clear Operations
About
On a project site where other unexploded ordnance risk mitigation measures are unsuitable or not viable, Igne’s explosive ordnance experts can conduct a manual search and clear operation using handheld UXO detection equipment.
Some sites and environments may not be suitable for survey operations (eg. dense wodded areas). In this case, Igne will undertake manual search & clear operations.
While search and clear operations are slower than non-intrusive surveys, these clearance operations can take place in areas with limited access and/or rough terrains.
What they are
What are search & clear operations?
Search and clear operations involve manually and methodically scanning a site or area of a site using a handheld detector to ‘search’ for UXO. If any ferrous anomalies are detected, they are carefully excavated and investigated to ascertain whether they are UXO. If the excavated anomaly is UXO, Igne will then identify whether the ordnance is live or inert.
After identifying the item of UXO, Igne can then ‘clear’ the ordnance by either safely defusing/detonating it on-site, removing it from the site to a remote location, or by contacting the Metropolitan Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit.
Igne’s Search & Clear operations on the Dorset coast
In August 2022, Igne was contracted to provide search & clear operations in an area of circa 5Ha on the Dorset Coast. Previously a heavily vegetated, the area was burnt down in a BBQ fire and our client needed to determine the possible level of UXO contamination in this area.
Once the levels of contamination had been established, Igne’s project management team rapidly arranged a meeting with the client to discuss and detail the most suitable mitigation plan moving forward. It was agreed that a full mitigation plan and site set-up should be established before the area was made available to the public again.
Within 48hrs, Igne mobilised multiple EOD search & clear teams and established a site which included security, welfare and storage for munitions.
Igne’s in-house geotechnical department prepared a detailed map, breaking the area down into 25x25m search boxes, with each box having a unique identifying number assigned to facilitate simple tracking of progress. The operations lasted circa 4 months and we found hundreds of live items of ordnance which we destroyed, making the area safe for reopening to public access.
.jpeg){kind=spacer}
Image shows the demolition of live ordnance overseen by Igne site manager and client.
To learn more about Igne’s search and clear services, or to learn more about its intrusive and non-intrusive surveys, contact Igne via hello@igne.com or call 01634 471340.
UXO Disposal
Igne has been making the world a safer place since 1989; detecting, clearing, and disposing of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the United Kingdom and worldwide. It is one of the few UK-based contractors that has a licence to ‘acquire and keep’ ordnance.
Licences
Igne's licences
Igne holds all necessary licenses, permissions and authority to conduct UXO survey, investigation, storage, collection and disposal by explosive means as required in the UK.
This includes:
- Acquire & Keep licence, allowing Igne to procure explosives and carry-out controlled demolitions by explosive means on private property.
- Firearms dealer licence, allowing Igne to hold and store these types of prohibited items, in line with the Manufacturing & Storage Regulations.
- Home Office Section 5 Authority (Firearms Act 1968), granting Igne permission, under strict conditions, to store and dispose of prohibited items (by explosive means), ensuring accurate record keeping.
Disposal
Disposal of UXO
Igne Global has the capability and experience to provide explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) of items that have been located and identified on site.
Principal methods of disposal employed will be:
Low order deflagration: utilising a thermic lance specifically designed to destroy ordnance made with thin skinned steel. It causes the casing of the ordnance to crack open and the explosive contents to ignite and burn away without detonating.
High order detonation: the traditional method for disposing of UXO is to place a plastic explosive counter charge next to the item and detonate it.
Igne will provide an all-in solution including the preparation of safe demolition and storage areas, provision of all licensing, liaison with local authority, procurement of explosives and all paperwork required to ensure that a safe system of works is in place, including the standard operating procedures and demolition plan.
Igne’s UXO services are end-to-end and cover the entire CIRIA C681’s Guide to Unexploded Ordnance.
UXO survey & clearance central London
Tideway is building a 25km Super Sewer under the River Thames and Igne helped with UXO surveys and clearance operations at multiple sites in central London…
Emergency UXO incident handling UK
A German airdropped SC250kg bomb was discovered on a construction site in Bath. Igne subject matter experts successfully handled the incident.
UXO disposal for construction company in Scotland
Igne developed and implemented a comprehensive unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk mitigation strategy for a development project on a former RAF site.
Would you know if you found UXO on your site? No? That's OK, our EOD engineers could identify or discount it: saving you time and keeping you safe
Email: hello@igne.comCall: 0371 789 1000