The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed to revise the explosives and blasting agents standard in subpart H of part 29 CFR 1910. The revision includes a rewrite of Sec 1910.109 and is intended to enhance the protections provided to employees engaged in the manufacture, storage, sale, transportation, handling, and use of explosives. The proposal updates and clarifies the regulatory language, addresses regulatory inconsistencies between OSHA and other Federal agencies, incorporates updated consensus standards, and provides the regulated community with greater compliance flexibility.

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The following story was extracted from a newspaper article posted in The Burlington NC Daily Times-News dated Monday 27 August 1945. It's just one example of why bomb disposal technicians are considered true heroes and sometimes extremely lucky.

"Dealing with unexploded bombs, the most hazardous job behind the front lines was handled jointly by British and American bomb disposal crews. Strictly speaking, the RAF [Royal Air Force] personnel removed duds and time bombs striking British fields and installations, and the AAF [American Air Forces] handles those landing on U.S. Army sites. But owing to the density of U.S. installations in the war-torn England, American and RAF bomb disposal crew usually worked together.

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Salisbury, Massachusetts  Police conducting a raid on the house of a 44 year old man suspected of dealing cocaine. During the search of the man's house, authorities found a large collection of military ordnance. Included in the collection of over 200 items were landmines, mortars, grenades, dynamite, fuzes, and old cannon balls. Several of the items were reported to be live including the cannon balls which were filled with black powder.

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Pristina, Serbia  A child playing in a field found an item that caught his curiosity. Not knowing that the item was actually an unexploded anti-personnel landmine, the child (age not given) put it in his pocket. The boy then proceeded to play basketball with some friends. When he took a break from the game and sat down the item exploded. The explosion injured a young girl standing nearby.

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UXOInfo.com recently received a donation of images taken in Kosovo between 1999-2000. The collection contains over 60 images of U.S. and eastern European munitions. Several of the images have been uploaded to the UXOInfo.com photo library already. UXOInfo.com will work to get the remaining images uploaded to the library over the next week.

If you have any images or documents to donate to the free on-line UXO document and photo library please email them to UXOInfo.com.

Ever wonder why there is not more media coverage and stories posted on the heroic actions of bomb disposal technicians during times of war? This news story from the Burlington North Carolina Daily Times-News dated Monday August 27, 1945 provides a good reason why.

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Plymouth, United Kingdom  Hundreds of residential homes were evacuated when a 500lb unexploded bomb was unearthed at a building site in the Prince Rock area. Some residents were asked to leave their windows and curtains open to minimize the potential for glass breaking during the on-site disposal operation.

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Responding to customer input, Schonstedt Instrument Company has significantly boosted the audio output of its GA-92XT expandable locator. The company's recent redesign of the processor board has resulted in an average increase in sound pressure level (SPL) from 103 decibels to 115 decibels, at a distance of 2" from the speaker.

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NOAA released the results of a June 2006 survey of an underwater area off the Hawaiian island of Oahu where discarded military munitions are present. The survey of the area has verified the presence of munitions ranging from small arms projectiles to large-caliber artillery projectiles and naval gun ammunition. The survey was conducted by NOAA, with assistance from the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

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Manchester, United Kingdom  Hundreds of local residents were evacuated for several hours when a WWII era mortar round was uncovered by workmen near the Oxford Road train station. As a safety precaution police stopped train traffic into the station and cordoned off the area until a bomb disposal crew arrived and surveyed the scene.

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