Accidents and field medical provision

SUMMARY: No one knows for sure how frequently accidents occur in humanitarian demining. This is partly because the details of accidents involving state employees are rarely shared, and national laws often restrict access to police or military reports. It is also because there is a frequent failure to comply with the reporting requirement described in the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS). IMAS 10.60 requires that “an accident in which a mine, ERW or explosives harms a demining employee, visitor, or member of the local population” shall be investigated and the report made available. However, although it is a requirement to share the results of investigations, it is currently not entirely clear with whom the results should be shared. Many accident reports were included in the Database of Demining Accidents (DDAS) between 1995 and 2011, but few have been shared recently.