scope:

AASTP-4 applies to risks associated with explosives. The underlying principles can also be applied to the management of other hazardous situations.

Purpose

AASTP-4 is in two parts. Part I is an overview designed for use by policy makers, safety professionals, and analysts. It supports the continued growth and utilization of risk-based methods. It is designed to assist in developing and using new applications and to provide examples of current international uses. Toward these purposes, it:

• Provides guidance in the establishment of risk-based decision methods,

• Describes existing risk-based methods in use by the participating nations,

• Identifies common features of risk-based approaches, so that assessments done by individual nations in multinational operations may be understood and, if appropriate, used by other countries.

AASTP-4 is also intended to facilitate the specific development of improved support for making decisions on the safety of explosives and munitions activities especially those involving joint operations. Such as:

• To rank the severity of various quantity distance (Q-D) non-compliant situations,

• To assess the benefit of different risk reduction options,

• To support risk assessments needed to develop insensitive munitions,

• To identify weak points in existing methods,

• To establish means of exchanging results using different nation's models,

• To contribute to solutions for operational problems (e.g. field storage).

AASTP-4, Part II is designed for the risk analyst and contains detailed algorithms for coordinating risk assessments.