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“SAFEGROUNDS” stands for SAFety and Environmental Guidance for the Remediation of UK Nuclear and Defence Sites.
During 1998 the network begun as incresed openness was emerged in the nuclear sector. Industry committees were discussing difficulties in estimating and managing the liabilities posed by contaminated land on nuclear sites. This identified the need for best practice guidance, which CIRIA was invited to share its long experience of developing consensus-based guidance production.
Following feasibility studies, SAFEGROUNDS began producing some initial guidance to support good practice in the health, safety and environmental aspects of managing contaminated land. Initially looking at nuclear licensed sites, the network extended its remit to include defence sites.
The SAFEGROUNDS network uses participatory approaches to develop and disseminate good practice guidance for the management of contaminated land on nuclear and defence sites.
The guidance supports good practice for the UK 's nuclear sites and land under MoD ownership. It is a large and well established network strongly supported by a wide range of participating groups.
Although the guidance and information documents are explicit on technical matters, government policy and statutory requirements for contaminated land management, it also acknowledges that there are different views within society about health and environmental risks and about the uncertainties associated with assessments of them.
As in other situations, where disparate stakeholder groups need to be involved in making decisions on complex ‘high consequences, low probability’ technical issues, it is critical that the range of views on uncertainties is dealt with openly from the outset.
If they are to work together on agreeing solutions, site practitioners should be aware of the spectrum of views on risks held by other stakeholders and have an open mind on the potential management options that could be applied. What is most important is to avoid forcing through pre-judged options – from any side – and what the guidance does particularly well is to provide a framework which allows site specific dialogue to occur on issues of concern.
The aim is to help sites to deliver good land management projects, with buy-in from a range of stakeholders. The benefits of this include better community relationships, more rapid navigation of the planning system and smoother project management. This in turn should lead to significant cost benefits for the client. Building trust and avoiding conflict are key goals.
It has been recognised that, for the approach to work, the guidance needs to be as accessible as possible to both the technical and non-technical reader.