For over 100 years, the American Table of Distances (ATD) has governed minimum distances for the storage of explosives from the nation’s transportation infrastructure and inhabited buildings to protect public safety. The ATD considers both the weight of commercial explosives stored and the distance of the storage site to critical infrastructure like highways and the general public. As the composition of commercial explosives and the nature of their storage has improved over the last century, IME, working with APT Research Inc., developed the Institute of Makers of Explosives Safety Analysis for Risk (IMESAFR) program. Based on a quantitative risk assessment method, IMESAFR allows companies storing explosives to further assess risk to the public with a method that combines empirical data with site-specific conditions.
IMESAFR is a public safety software tool that considers many different variables, such as the type of explosives, storage construction, distances, natural barricades, and information about nearby structures or roads and their occupants. IMESAFR considers all the variables of the ATD but also considers explosives magazine and building construction, magazine orientation, and the number of people near storage sites to assess the overall risk to public safety
When implemented, IMESAFR safeguards the commercial explosives industry workforce, our work sites, public infrastructure, and the general public in proximity to where commercial explosives materials are stored.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has recognized the value of IMESAFR and the agency has used it at specific storage locations over fifty times. IME recommends that the ATF formally adopt IMESAFR or Quantitative Risk Assessment mythology into its regulation as an additional safety measure for businesses to reduce risk and further safeguard the workforce and the public.