Crossrail UXO Risk Assessment – Pre-empting best practice

The publication in October 2009 of the CIRIA report C681 Unexploded ordnance (UXO) A guide for the construction industry (CIRIA 2009) has for the first time established an industry wide best practice for the assessment of unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk to construction activities in the United Kingdom. This guide shows how potential UXO risk can be assessed and managed through a staged approach of preliminary risk assessment, detailed risk assessment, risk mitigation and implementation (see Figure 1).

Since much of the UXO that forms the hazard, thus generating the risk, dates from World War Two (WWII), the requirement to assess UXO risk in some recognised, consistent and professional manner has long been understood, not only by developers but also by designers and principal contractors.