The Survey's team of experts discuss the latest research and the application of the findings.
Episode 23: The Dangers of Excess Munitions Stockpiles: the UEMS Handbook
Episode 15: A Fresh Approach to Ammunition Demilitarization: Guiding policies to reduce excess stockpiles
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Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites (UEMS): Excess Stockpiles as Liabilities rather than Assets
By Eric G. Berman and Pilar Reina, June 2014
Unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS) are a significant safety concern for governments and a major security challenge for the international community. The Small Arms Survey has documented more than 500 such incidents over the 35-year period from 1979 to 2013. (Updated information is available and covers incidents recorded until June 2016.)
This Handbook contains analysis of this data, with many helpful tables, figures, maps, and annexes. It serves three primary purposes, striving to:
- support best practice by explaining the scale and scope of the challenge that policy-makers face;
- encourage states to manage their stockpiles effectively;
- help generate better data capturing and record keeping; and
- serve as a reference tool and a training tool.
An online version of the Handbook provides an overview of the subject and offers details of the actors who undertake activities or provide services with a goal of securing munitions safely or identifying and destroying surplus munitions, listed both by type and by the activities they engage in. tools/uems-handbook.html
Download the sections:
- Preliminary pages: Contents, Contributors, Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgements, List of boxes, figures, maps, and tables, and Abbreviations and acronyms.
Download (152.83 KB)
- Introduction and Part I: Scale and Scope
Download (1.8 MB)
- Part II: UEMS Incident Reporting Template (IRT)
Download (142.58 KB)
- Part III: Actors
Download (1.25 MB)
- Part IV: Annotated Bibliography and Review of Selected Tools
Download (1.6 MB)
- Part V: Annexes
Download (1.51 MB)
Download the full book:
- Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites (UEMS)
Download (5.84 MB)
For further information and resources on UEMS, please visit this section.