HANDLING

PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS

Normally, all personnel engaged in operations that involve ammunition, explosives, and other hazardous materials are trained and qualified to perform their assigned duties. In addition to being qualified and certified, personnel involved with hazardous explosive operations are certified by a physician as physically qualified. Personnel aren't knowingly permitted or required to work when their ability or alertness is impaired because of fatigue, illness, or other reasons. This would expose them and other personnel to injury. Occasionally, manpower shortages cause a need for assistance by personnel from other Navy ratings to join working parties to handle or transport ammunition and explosives. These working parties are referred to as augmentation crews. Before using augmentation crews, try to make sure that personnel in the working party are trained so mistakes aren't made or safety factors violated. Furthermore, make sure enough qualified representatives, preferably officers or petty officers that are senior in rank to any member of the working party, are present to detect or prevent violations of safety orders and other unsafe practices. They should take whatever action is required to correct the situation.

AMMUNITION HANDLING

The AO must be familiar with handling ammunition. It is a repetitious task, whether at a shore station or aboard ship. Repetitious work, no matter how dangerous, often becomes routine and leads to carelessness. Therefore, pay attention to what you are doing to prevent accidents in operations dealing with ammunition and explosives. Whenever ammunition or explosives are received, transferred, or stowed, an officer or petty officer that knows the rules governing the care and handling of ammunition supervises the work. The supervisor makes sure that all work personnel are aware of the need to be careful when they handle ammunition and explosives. Handling equipment is properly maintained and frequently inspected to make sure it is in safe working condition. Also, the handling equipment must be the right equipment for the purpose. Inspections are made before and during loading/unloading operations.

AMMUNITION SHIPPING

Ammunition shipping is a phase of ammunition handling. Instructions for the preparation and shipment of naval ordnance material are contained in

Navy Transportation Safety Handbook for Ammunition, Explosives and Related Hazardous Materials, NAVSEA SW020-AG-SAF-010. The instruction NAVSEA SW020-AG-SAF-010 cover the preparation, flow, and use of all the documents that are required to ship, receive, and report shipments. Instructions for the use of ordnance transport equipment, materials to be transported, division of responsibility for carrying out inspections, and criteria for accepting or rejecting equipment are also contained in this publication. NAVSEA SW020-AG-SAF-010 contains the general information needed for you to safely perform the duties required when shipping ordnance materials.

Explosives Driver

An explosive driver is often an AO with an excellent safe driving record, and a person fully qualified according to Motor Vehicle's Driver's Handbook Ammunition, Explosives, and Hazardous Materials, NAVSEA OP 2239. To become a qualified explosive driver, you must meet the qualifications described below. If you meet these qualifications, you are certified to drive motor vehicles that transport hazardous materials (HM).

STATE OPERATOR'S LICENSE.—An explosives driver must hold a valid state operator's license, not necessarily issued by the state in which the activity is located. This applies to operation of vehicles both onand off-station. This requirement is permanently waived for those personnel stationed outside the 50 states that would otherwise be eligible to obtain an explosive driver's permit.

MEDICAL EXAMINERS CERTIFICATE.— An explosives drivermust undergo a explosive physical examination and, on the basis of such an examination, be certified by a licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy to ensure that he/she meets applicable requirements as stated in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Applicants who pass the prescribed explosive physical examination are issued a Medical Examiner's Certificate, ATA (American Trucking Association) Form C0750. This certificate, in addition to the explosive driver's permit, must be on the operator's person while driving any vehicle transporting HM.

EXPLOSIVES DRIVER PERMIT.—An explosives driver must hold a U.S. Government Motor Vehicle Operator's Identification Card, Standard Form 46 (SF 46). The card will be noted: "Explosives Driver (Must hold a current medical certificate)." The SF 46 is valid for 3 years and must be renewed prior to expiration. A yearly endorsement is not required. An individual's safety record and physical requirements will be considered prior to recertification as an explosive driver.

AGE AND EXPERIENCE.—An explosives driver must be 18 years of age or older to operate motor vehicles transporting HM on-station and 21 years of age or over for off-station motor vehicle HM operations. The explosive driver must also have had considerable and varied driving experience with the type of equipment to be operated and have a safe driving record.

MENTAL REQUIREMENTS.—Applicants, military and civilian, are required to pass a mental examination that is administered by the local command before they can be considered eligible to be explosives drivers.

ALCOHOL AND DRUGS.—An applicant for explosives driver certification found to be addicted to alcohol or drugs is rejected. Certification is revoked for an explosive driver found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs while on duty or when showing evidence of addiction. Temporary revocation of HM certification may become necessary when the use of physician-prescribed drugs are likely to interfere with the driver's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely.

ABILITY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND REGULATIONS.—An explosives driver must be able to read, write, and understand the English language, and to complete the various forms for which a driver is responsible. The driver is required to read and understand the regulations that pertain to the duties as prescribed in NAVSEA OP 2239. In addition to these qualifications, if you apply for certification as an explosive driver, you are required to complete an explosive driver's training course and pass the tests given at the conclusion of the course. All explosive drivers receive at least 12 hours of instruction in the following activities:

• Driving trucks, truck-tractors with semi trailers, and other vehicles of appropriate types

• Handling and transporting hazardous materials

• Interpreting regulations and procedures pertaining to the transporting of hazardous materials

• Training and use of fire extinguishers

• Completing and filing required reports When operating Navy-owned vehicles, you, as an operator, must comply with DOD regulations and all state and local traffic laws. You are also subject to fine or imprisonment when you violate these regulations and traffic laws.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Safety precautions prescribe the minimum requirements and regulations you should observe when handling ammunition. These regulations may be general in nature or step-by-step procedures. Regardless of the situation, safety precautions must NEVER be ignored or bypassed, even during the simplest ammunition-handling evolutions. The general safety precautions listed below show some of the regulations contained in publications referred to in this chapter.

1. Properly stow all materials within a magazine and keep them in a safe condition. Never let trash resulting from decanning, depalletizing, or unpacking accumulate in a magazine. It presents a fire hazard and unsafe working conditions for personnel.

2. Don't use improvised tools, platforms, or ladders.

3. Before ammunition loading, explosives loading, or offloading operations, either at a shore activity or a ship underway, inspect all fire mains to make sure they operate properly and efficiently. Fire hoses must be laid out ready for use in the immediate area of operations. The hoses must be laid out so those damage control and fire boundaries are not crossed, using all risers available. Additionally, keep the valves controlling these fires hoses open so that water is readily available.

4. Flame, heat, or spark-producing devices aren't permitted where explosives or flammable materials, batteries, or battery charging lockers are located. Cigarette lighters, heaters, fires, welding tools, soldering irons, cutting torches, and uncovered lights are included in this category. When work requiring the use of flame, heat, or spark-producing devices is urgently required in or adjacent to an ammunition stowage space, follow the procedures outlined in OPNAVINST 8023.2 (series) and OPNAVINST 8023.21 (series).

5. Emphasize safety precautions applicable to in-service ammunition items or equipment by using applicable signs throughout the ship. Signs may be obtained as Cog I material. They are indexed in Section 13 of Navy Stock List of Forms and Publications—Cognizance Symbol I, NAVSUP Publication 2002, or when not listed in NAVSUP 2002, you may obtain them from a tender-type ship by submission of a work order.

6. Emergency drills requiring the use of the general alarm system, ship's bell or whistles aren’t conducted aboard ship while moored to an ammunition-activity pier, unless specific approval for such drills has been granted by the commanding officer of the ammunition activity. Similarly, such emergency drills aren't conducted by ships nested together or at a pier where ammunition-handling operations are in progress, or by a ship underway during an ammunition handling evolution.

7. Ammunition evolutions involving direct contact with ammunition components are curtailed during local atmospheric disturbances, such as thunderstorms or high winds. Operations aren't resumed until non-hazardous conditions prevail.

8. Stowage of privately owned ammunition and small arms is permitted aboard ship if approved by the commanding officer. This type of stowage is subject to the security requirements of chapter 700 of the Naval Ships Technical Manual, Ammunition Handling and Stowage, NAVSEA S9086-XG-STM-000.

9. Ships and craft entering commercial or naval shipyards for periods longer than 6 weeks are completely offloaded of all ammunition, except the small arms ammunition that the commanding officer considers necessary for the maintenance of security aboard ship and inert ordnance items such as bomb fins. If a ship is expected to remain in the yard for less than 6 weeks, the ship offloads, as a minimum, all ammunition or explosives that can't be stowed in sprinkler-protected or floodable spaces.

10. The number of personnel engaged in ammunition and explosive handling operations is limited to the minimum necessary for safe and efficient performance of the work. Unauthorized personnel aren't permitted in a magazine, missile handling or testing area, or at any handling operation involving explosives or ammunition. A responsible escort accompanies visiting personnel.

11. As a general rule, any pyrotechnic device that is armed and otherwise prepared for launching or activating but hasn't been used may be dearmed, restored to its original packing, and returned to stowage. The exceptions to this rule are Mk 25 and Mk 58 marine location markers, Mk 46 decoy flares, and aircraft parachute flares. If such devices can't be made safe beyond question, they must be stowed in lockers or disposed of according to current directives.

12. When the temperature in a magazine containing gas generators, propelling charges, or fixed ammunition reaches 110°F or above, certain actions must be taken to preserve safety and stability of the explosives. When the magazine temperature is between 110°F and 120°F, the magazine should be artificially cooled, as practical. The number of hours and the maximum temperature reached during each hour of exposure above 110°F, but less than 120°F, must be recorded. When the cumulative total number of hours of exposure to these temperatures reaches 500 hours, the ammunition must be expended or turned into an ammunition activity, stating the reason for return. If the exposure and the maximum temperature reached each hour should be made. When a cumulative total of 100 hours of exposure above 120ºF is reached, prior to a cumulative total of 500 hours of exposure between 110ºF and 130ºF, the ammunition must have priority for expenditure or be turned in to an ammunition storage activity at the first opportunity. At temperatures above 130ºF, the ammunition should be removed from the magazine and turned in to the nearest ammunition activity. When there is no storage activity immediately available and the ship is in port, the ammunition may be retained on board in a segregated magazine or in a ready-service room or locker. All possible methods should be used to lower the temperature of the ammunition until the ship is able to turn it in to the nearest ammunition activity.