look for at the site. If insufficient data is available to determine the presence or absence
b. Survey the Site. One of the first things the preventive medicine personnel
would do is to survey the site with safety and DEH personnel for possible clues, take
samples of the contaminated items, disease, or materials involved or generated. Good
indications that something is wrong is if one or all of the following environmental
changes are noted:
(1) Trees, forests, soil, and woodlands are defoliating, wilted, diseased, or
turning brown.
(2) Fish and wildlife populations and habitats are diseased, dying, or
damaged in some way.
(3) Surface water or groundwater supplies are murky, foul smelling, filled with
debris, etc., as is wetlands and/or flood plains.
(4) Illegal dumping or hazardous materials, substances, or wastes by non-
Army parties come on to Army bivouac areas.
(5) Unexplained human illness or the injury or death of wildlife, domestic
animals, aquatic life, or vegetation when occurring to such an extent as to suggest more
than a random event.
(6) Spills of oil, regulated medical waste, or hazardous substances.
c. Perform Risk Assessment. Analyze the samples for the exact cause.
Determine the extent of the problem and risk, including possible ramifications or impact
to humans and wildlife.
d. Follow Evaluation Procedures. Evaluate the adequacy of the existing data
to determine the potential for the presence or absence of contamination or impact.
Summarize the potential for exposing existing and future soldiers or human populations
to the adverse environment.
e. Make Recommendations to the Commander. Summarize all identified
contamination or disruptions and state their impact on soldiers, including technical
justification, and annotate recommendations to the commander. Recommend to
mitigate or control adverse impacts and to protect personnel from hazardous exposures.
Often, the cause was that personnel did not follow SOP. Sometimes, only minor
modifications or alterations are needed to correct the problem so it does not occur
again. Sometimes a recommendation involves training or retraining personnel to follow
correct procedures.
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