Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)
Marine Services

Our Marine UXO Risk Assessments take into consideration not only the historic risk of contamination in an area, but also factors such as the scope of the proposed works, seabed geology, burial depth, water depth and risk / consequences of detonation – working in accordance to CIRIA C754 Guidelines.

We consider evidence including:

• History of Area
• WWI German and Allied Sea Mines
• WWII German and Allied Sea Mines
• Firing Ranges/Seaward Armament Training Areas
• Naval Exercise/Training Areas
• Wrecks
• Munitions Dump Sites
• Explosive Ordnance Finds
• Coastal Gun Batteries
• WWI and WWII Bombing and Shelling
• Offshore Incidents Involving Munitions
• Aircraft Activity and Crashes
• Submarine Exercise Areas

All relevant sources of information will be accessed, analysed and presented to the client with detailed analysis, and if necessary – we will provide recommendations to mitigate any potential risk of UXO on your project.

Based on the findings of the Marine UXO Risk Assessment for your project, 1st Line Defence will further consider the UXO risk in relation to the specific site works within the project area, the recommend methods to be employed and the types of assets and equipment required.

The Risk Mitigation Strategy will determine and identify strategic options we recommend to be implemented in order to reduce the UXO risk to ‘As Low As Reasonably Practicable’ (ALARP).

We will provide clients with the correct and appropriate means to make sure the balance of costs to manage the UXO risk are proportionate to the levels and scale of UXO risk across the project site location, and to make sure the ALARP principle has been sufficiently satisfied.

1st Line Defence can provide specialist Project Managers or full Project Management Teams to oversee a wide-range of projects.

All Project Managers we appoint have vast experience working in marine environments and hold the necessary qualifications needed to assist with your project – we can support you throughout the entire process from start-to-finish.

The provision of Project Managers and project staff is not limited to UXO project management only.

In locations around the world that have environmental and climatic complexities, we can provide professional geophysical surveying services supported by experienced in-house professionals.

Geophysical surveys are an innovative, state-of-the-art ground investigation technique used to identify any unusual characteristics in the subsurface to locate buried targets – including items of UXO.

1st Line Defence provide a wide-range of geophysical non-intrusive surveys to mitigate the risk posed from UXO to provide ALARP sign-off for your project.

The survey specification we recommend will be suitable for the detection of UXO threat, and additional survey techniques can also be included within the specification of the geophysical survey to provide additional value to your project.

As standard, we provide consultation for potential clients from the initial design stage, through to post-report discussion and ALARP sign off.

Follow the link to see a full list of geophysical survey services available – download Capability Statement for Marine UXO Services

1st Line Defence provides a complete UXO risk mitigation solution for marine projects across the UK and Internationally.

We combine our in-house geo-services with our insights and experience of working in challenging marine environments, to offer an integrated survey, identification and clearance solution that manages the risk posed by UXO – and provide ALARP clearance.

We can provide highly-qualified and experienced EOD & Target Investigation Teams (onshore and offshore) to conduct investigation and clearance operations – either as a standalone service as the project lead – or by integrating our specialists within an already established project team to provide dedicated UXO support to the project.

Clearance solutions may include or require a ROV, diver, dredging or land based teams – and we can support a wide-range of projects including: offshore, near-shore, within waterways, ports, harbours, rivers or on land.

We employ highly experienced project management and EOD specialist teams to conduct recovery, disposal and clearance operations.

Explosive techniques using high and low order methods have been developed over many years to make sure that we have the capability to dispose of UXO safely, and to minimise risk to the environment.

• Techniques may include the recovery, storage and final disposal of UXO located offshore, and recovered to land for transportation and disposal.
• The recovery and relocation of UXO offshore for disposal at sea – this method is often required if UXO is within close proximity of subsea assets such as pipes, submarine cables etc.
• Disposal in-situ – the use of explosive means to destroy UXO on the seabed. This operation might be completed by high or low explosive methods, and is dependent on the environment and any other constraints that might be present.

Disposal operations may be conducted as a response to an immediate client request or as a deliberately planned operation.

In all cases; planning, safety and environmental mitigation are the corner stone of every 1st Line Defence recovery, disposal and clearance operation.

1st Line Defence are passionate about reducing the environmental impact on marine wildlife from UXO risk mitigation operations, and employs in-house environmental consultants to assess and develop appropriate environmental assessments and plans – to better understand and minimise the impact caused by offshore activities.

This may include Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Environmental Monitoring & Mitigation Strategies (EMMS) – which are developed to manage the risks posed by subsea detonations of UXO, and / or other construction type activities.

Additionally, we can also deploy Environmental Monitoring & Mitigation strategies during operations or throughout the project life cycle.