Safe hands. From discovery to resolution.

Stop all work in the immediate vicinity, ensure no one touches or moves the object, and establish a safe exclusion zone. Notify your site manager immediately, then contact a qualified UXO/EOD specialist directly; they can attend rapidly and assess the item. You do not need to call the police as a first step; a commercial EOD team will liaise with relevant authorities if the item is confirmed as live ordnance. The key rule: do not touch, do not move, and do not continue excavation.

Emergency attendance times vary by location, but specialist UXO companies covering mainland UK typically aim to have a qualified EOD engineer on site within a few hours of the initial call. Having a UXO specialist already engaged on your project (through a watching brief or as a named contact in your CDM safety plan) significantly shortens response time and avoids the uncertainty of finding a provider under pressure.

The attending engineer should hold a recognised EOD or Explosive Ordnance Clearance (EOC) qualification from either a military background or a specialist civilian training programme accredited by the Institute of Explosives Engineers (IExpE). The company should carry appropriate public liability insurance for explosive ordnance work, and operatives should demonstrate familiarity with HSE and MOD protocols for commercial EOD operations.

The EOD engineer will assess the item in situ, using visual identification and, where necessary, careful controlled probing or partial excavation to establish what it is. If the item is confirmed as inert or a non-hazardous artefact, the site can resume immediately. If confirmed or suspected live ordnance, the specialist will make it safe using approved protocols, which may involve controlled detonation, deflagration, or removal to a licensed disposal facility. A full incident report is produced for your records.

In most cases the disruption is far shorter than people fear. An experienced EOD team can often resolve a confirmed find within hours, depending on the type and condition of the ordnance. Pre-planning helps enormously: a project with a UXO management plan already in place, a named specialist on call, and a defined exclusion zone protocol will always recover faster than one where procedures are improvised on the day.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and CDM 2015, the principal contractor and client carry responsibility for ensuring hazards have been adequately assessed and managed. If a UXO risk assessment was not carried out when one was reasonably warranted, or if a known risk was not mitigated, the legal, financial, and reputational consequences can be severe. Commissioning appropriate assessment and clearance work transfers residual risk to qualified professionals and creates a defensible documentation trail.