McALESTER, Okla. - Bullets, bombs and grenades are the Joint Munitions Command's business. And if there's any group of people comfortable with things that go "boom," it's the JMC.

Thanks to the U.S. Army Technical Center for Explosives Safety, JMC employees can continue to breathe easy knowing those things that go "boom," do so safely.

Fittingly, USATECS is a directorate within the Defense Ammunition Center and USATECS personnel are the Army's approval authority for explosives safety.

From site plan submissions to hazards classifications, and even chemical agent safety, USATECS helps ensure the well-being of Soldiers, civilians, contractors and the public.

To ensure the success of that mission, the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board and the military services are developing software -- the Explosives Safety Siting system.

The software will automate the explosives safety site planning process. In addition, it will augment the installation's geographic information system map and real property inventory with explosives safety data.

Then, that data will allow ESS to perform quantity distance analysis and place the appropriate quality distance arcs on a map.

It will also develop quality distance tables and a memo that can be used to submit the site plan through command channels.

"This software will reduce the time that safety professionals spend on developing and reviewing explosives safety site plans, thus giving them more time to perform mission-critical duties," said Lyn Little, a logistics management specialist with USATCES.

ESS requires that data be formatted in accordance with the DoD's Spatial Data Standard for Facilities, Infrastructure, and Environment.

Often a "data cleansing" effort is required to implement ESS since GIS data for many installations is not SDSFIE compliant.

The software consists of two distinct programs: the ESS Toolkit and ESS Site planner. ESS Toolkit assists the installation in the process of getting their data ready to run site plans.

This preparation ensures the data is SDSFIE compliant and links the data from the GIS map with the data from the installation's real property inventory and the explosives safety data. With a separate process, the ESS site planner actually performs the QD analysis and assembles the site plan packages.

The Explosives Safety Board has established a goal that all site plan submissions must be automated by the year 2011.

JMC funded the installation of ESS at all JMC plants and depots, and at Military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, N.C. USATCES is seeking Army funding to implement ESS at all remaining Army installations in time to meet the 2011 goal established by DDESB.

The DAC-led project to implement the software at all JMC plants and depots is partially completed. The main effort on this project is being performed by personnel from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command's Engineering Service Center who serve as the DoD program managers for the ESS program, with support from personnel from JMC installations.

Special insert:

The Mission

The U.S. Army Technical Center for Explosives Safety was established in 1988 by a General Officer Steering Committee formed to review the Army's explosives safety program. Our challenge is to implement sound vigilant explosives/chemical agent/ordnance and explosives safety principles. USATCES is an element of the Defense Ammunition Center, McAlester, OK.