Finding 6-1. The occluded space survey is a key component of the overall monitoring strategy for closure, and it requires occluded space survey teams with a high level of expertise and significant training for proper execution.

Recommendation 6-1. Occluded space survey protocol should be standardized across the entire enterprise, and training should be strengthened, standardized across the program, and continually updated.

Finding 6-4. Unventilated monitoring testing—conducted in sequence with site exposure and spill histories, ventilated monitoring, and occluded space surveys—is appropriately designed to ensure protection of workers and the general population from agent exposure via airborne pathways. It is the final “critical step” in clearing a site for mass demolition.

Recommendation 6-4a. The Army should ensure both that the unventilated monitoring testing (UMT) protocol is uniform throughout the enterprise and that the information gained by the UMT sequence is aggressively communicated to subsequent closure sites.

Recommendation 6-4b. Locations of prior exposures and spills should be compared with the results of the unventilated monitoring testing (UMT) measurements. Correlation (or not) of past exposure events with UMT release rates could provide valuable insight into residual contamination, effectiveness of occluded space surveys, and UMT efficacy.

CMA (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency). 2009. Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2010–2015 Revision 0. Aberdeen Proving Ground—Edgewood Area, MD. Washington, D.C.: Chemical Materials Agency.