The availability of accident records from Afghanistan became erratic after 2000 when the UN MAC ceased to be transparent about sharing accident data. This situation has recently improved and many reports from 2005-2007 have been added for this release. Records from DDASaccident425.pdf onwards have been added in this update. Many of these are much more detailed than earlier records and so are much more informative.
These reports are not numbered in a date sequence.
The PMN AP blast mine is the largest that is commonly found and features in most accidents in Afghanistan. The most common activity at the time of an accident is, as usual, excavation while investigating a metal-detector reading or in wide-area excavation when the entire top-surface of the ground is removed.
The provision of appropriate PPE has improved over the past ten years, but the continued use of inappropriate handtools (the AK bayonet and the mattock) means that severe hand and arm injury is still common. Surprisingly, the provision of 5mm polycarbonate full-face visors has not led to a significant reduction in the incidence of severe eye injury.
DDAS Accident number |