When you are qualified and recommended for certification, you will be issued final certification by the commanding officer, the officer in charge, or the designated head of the certification board. An appropriate entry will be made in your training record and service record. Next, let's find out who must qualify and certify for what positions of responsibility.

The following personnel require individual qualification and certification:

1. Personnel whose duties require that they individually handle, inspect, package, unpack, assemble, disassemble, test, fuze, load or download, stow, arm or de-arm explosives or explosive devices must be qualified and certified for such tasks. Personnel assigned as safety observers for explosive operations, and those who inspect explosive operations for quality assurance purposes must also be qualified and certified. Supervisors of explosive operations and members of the command-appointed certification boards must also be individually certified for the evolutions that they may supervise or observe for qualification purposes. The only exception to this provision is that supervisors of explosives handling teams involved in handling explosives/hazardous materials with power-operated handling equipment need not themselves be qualified as operators. They must, however, be certified as team leaders for the explosive operations being conducted.

2. All operators of power-operated handling equipment (hoists, winches, cranes, forklifts, and so forth) used in transporting, loading, or handling ammunition, explosives, and other hazardous materials must be both certified and licensed as ground support equipment and/or materials handling equipment operators. Civilian personnel who operate these types of

Table 5-1.-Qualification Levels and Minimum Standards for Certification

equipment at shore activities must also be certified and licensed.

3. Instructors of formal courses or command-approved courses in any of the functions, tasks, or evolutions involving explosives.

Team qualification and certification are required for personnel whose duties require handling, inspecting, packaging, unpacking, assembling, disassembling, testing, fuzing, loading, or downloading (aircraft, launchers, and so forth), stowing, arming, or de-arming of explosives or explosive devices while acting as members of a team or work group. Additionally, a team leader must be designated and appropriately qualified and certified. Personnel changes in certified teams must be kept to a minimum. Requalification and recertification of a team after personnel changes have occurred are at the discretion of the commanding officer or officer in charge. Shipboard gun crews are considered to be teams for the purpose of qualification and certification.

Contractor personnel who are required to perform, at a naval activity, any of the functions discussed in this chapter must provide the commanding officer or officer in charge with documentation that verifies their qualification and certification level before they perform such functions. All contracts, when issued and also when renewed, that deal with explosives and explosive operations contain a provision stating that personnel used for explosive-type operations must be qualified and certified for the type of operation to be performed.

Certification, unless revoked for cause, is valid for a maximum of 12 months. A renewal of the certification, whether issued at the time of expiration or later, should be granted only after the certification board has validated the individual's or team's qualification. Whenever possible, requalification should be completed before certification is renewed.

Revocation of Certification

Commanding officers and officers in charge may revoke individual and team certifications whenever such action is in the best interest of safety. Revoking certification for individuals or teams, including the team leader, is mandatory if an explosive mishap is caused by failure to follow authorized procedures. Flagrant disregard of safety precautions, reckless operation of equipment used to handle explosive devices, or other behavior indicating incompetence or unreliability is also cause for mandatory revocation of certification. Personnel whose certification has been revoked must be retrained until they are requalified and recertified if the commanding officer considers such action appropriate. If, however, an individual's behavior indicates that retraining may be ineffective, he or she must be assigned other tasks not involving explosive devices. Whenever the certification of a military member is revoked, an entry must be made in the member's service record stating the specific reason for the revocation.

Transfer of Certification

When military personnel are transferred to another activity, the commanding officer or officer in charge of the receiving activity has the discretion of accepting or rejecting the certification. The transferring activity must enter in the appropriate section of the service record the individual's qualifications and dates of certification/decertification for specific evolutions involving explosive devices. Civilian employees who transfer to another activity must be recertified before being allowed to handle any explosive devices. If they are transferring to another function within the same activity, civilian employees must be certified for the new function, unless they currently hold a valid certification for that function.

The requirements for certification, revocation, and transfer of certification of nonnuclear ordnance explosives handlers are contained in OPNAVINST 8023.2C, U.S. Navy Explosives Safety Policies, Requirements, and Procedures (Department of the Navy Explosives Safety Policy Manual).

To continue our discussion on the safe handling, shipping, and storing of conventional explosives, we will look first at the "handling" portion.

Q3. What is the purpose of the Explosives Handling Personnel Qualification and Certification Program?

Q4. Who can authorize the use of live ordnance for training purposes?

Q5. Once an individual is certified to handle explosives, for how long is the certification valid?