THE UN­EX­PLODED ORD­NANCE SER­VICE

Re­vised ord­nance reg­u­la­tions were is­sued for Ham­burg in 2005 defin­ing the ac­tions to be taken by land own­ers when deal­ing with un­ex­ploded ord­nance. Dur­ing the con­struc­tion plan­ning phase, checks should be made to de­ter­mine if there may be haz­ards re­sult­ing from un­ex­ploded ord­nance. If yes, then the plot is to be searched for ord­nance be­fore con­struc­tion be­gins. This raises a num­ber of ques­tions: Am I ac­tu­ally re­quired to con­duct a search? Where should I look? How deep must I go? What method should I use? What does it cost? How long does it take?

The Ham­burg Port Au­thor­ity (HPA) pro­vides a cen­tral point of con­tact for these kinds of ques­tions: The Un­ex­ploded Ord­nance Ser­vice.

The of­fice pro­vides ad­vice to spe­cial­ists work­ing on HPA con­struc­tion pro­jects as well as to HPA ten­ants for con­struc­tion work. When ex­plo­sive ord­nance is dis­cov­ered, the Nau­ti­cal Cen­tre passes on im­por­tant in­for­ma­tion to the po­lice and fire ser­vices (ord­nance clear­ance ser­vice) who will then take over re­spon­si­bil­ity for se­cur­ing the site and dis­pos­ing of the ord­nance.

OUR TIP: “The peo­ple at the HPA” – In­ter­view with Dr. Axel Gruhn, mem­ber of the HPA Un­ex­ploded Ord­nance Ser­vice.

The process of a bomb dis­posal

When a bomb is found, the po­lice are the one to call. They're re­spon­si­ble for any safety pre­cau­tions. In co­op­er­a­tion with the fire brigades bomb dis­posal ser­vices they de­fine the dan­ger zone and the block­ing. There's the evac­u­a­tion zone of a few hun­dred me­ters and the dan­ger zone which is a cou­ple hun­dred me­ters big­ger. The po­lice then cor­dens off the afore­said area.

The HPA Un­ex­ploded Ord­nance Ser­vice is there for when ord­nance needs to be de­fused within the har­bour area. In this event, the HPA haz­ard man­age­ment de­part­ment is also con­tacted. The Nau­ti­cal Cen­tre re­ceives this in­for­ma­tion and no­ti­fies the Chief Har­bour Mas­ter, the har­bour rail­way, the road traf­fic con­trol room and all rel­e­vant site man­agers. The HPA will also pro­vide the po­lice and fire de­part­ment’s ord­nance clear­ance ser­vice with an­swers to var­i­ous ques­tions. Which rail lines into the port area are af­fected? Which streets around the port are af­fected? Which docks or canals are af­fected? The HPA helps the po­lice and ord­nance clear­ance ser­vice to seal off the af­fected area as ef­fi­ciently and quickly as pos­si­ble.

Ca­reer at HPA

Are you in­ter­ested in work­ing for the Un­ex­ploded Ord­nance Ser­vice? Apply on­line. When you're in­ter­ested in a place to train, an in­tern­ship or a uni­ver­sity or trainee place, we can also offer you at­trac­tive prospects for the fu­ture.

HPA as an em­ployer


HPA on In­sta­gram