NOTRA provided project management, explosives engineering, technologist, and legal personnel with expertise in blast management and associated structural engineering, equipment/materials, expertise and consulting services to carry out a comprehensive and defensible hazard risk assessment addressing health, safety, environmental, and legal aspects.  NOTRA conducted the following tasks in the Risk Assessment:

• Conduct of an explosives engineering hazard risk assessment;
• Assess the level of risk to AFE and TOIFOR employees;
• Assess the level of risk to the overall camp population;
• Assess the level of risk to equipment and property throughout the waste management process;
• Assess the level of risk to the environment, particularly as that relates to the requirement for open pit burning;
• Assess the level of risk associated with live ammo finding its way outside of KAF and into the civilian population;
• Assess the overall legal risk assumed by responsible parties including AFE, TOIFOR and NAMSA;
• Identify mitigation measures including an options & cost-benefit analysis and ;
• Evaluate mitigation measures including equipment, administrative controls, PPE, etc.;
• Make recommendations that are all-encompassing to the waste management process; and
• Provide briefings to NAMSA, COMKAF, AFE and TOIFOR as required and as identified by the Client.

The NOTRA team selected an approach based on our experience and knowledge of accepted industry and DND standards for explosives hazard risk management.  The company designed an approach focused on quality and transparency that provided AFE with a defendable assessment and associate recommendations to protect health, safety, and the environment.  NOTRA’s methodology and approach addressed the following main activities on-site at Kandahar:

• Documentation Review;
• Interviews;
• Site Assessment including identification of hazards, receptors, and pathways;
• Blast and Structural Engineering Assessment;
• Consequence Assessment including impact analysis;
• Probabilistic Hazard Assessment;
• Risk Assessment Analysis (Health, Safety, Environment, Facilities, Security, and Liability, etc.);
• Risk Management including mitigation measure and short-term/long term recommendations; and
• Options analysis.

The project was completed on time and within budget notwithstanding harsh conditions and significant project management/communications challenges associated with off-shore (Kandahar) operations.  The results of the assessment exceeded requirements addressing sometime conflicting needs of DND (Kandahar) and ATCO/Frontec.  Notwithstanding significant cost, health, safety, environment, liability, and regulatory aspects (including DND/DAER), the NOTRA team successfully provided compliant, defensible, and cost-effective recommendations including mitigation measures (short and long-term) that satisfied all stakeholder requirements.  All recommendations were based upon a solid options analysis that were subjected to DND and ATCO/Frontec management scrutiny and input.