SPONSORS OF UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE
ALL NAME Dave Welch
OCCUPATION MD of Ramora UK - Bomb Disposal Specialist
‘DISTINGUISHED’ WOULD BE THE WORD THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN DESCRIBING THE CREDENTIALS AND CAREER PATH OF DAVE WELCH, MD OF RAMORA UK, THE GLOBAL PROVIDER OF 24/7 REACTIVE BOMB DISPOSAL SERVICES, AND WHAT AN INTERESTING JOURNEY IT HAS BEEN ...
BACKGROUND Joining the Navy at the age of 16 in Plymouth (HMS RALEIGH) he worked his way up through the ranks, and 23 years later had acquired expertise within Mine Warfare, ROV operations, Weapons Engineering, Royal Navy Clearance Diver and Senior Explosives Officer within bomb disposal. He is, to add to this impressive list, a special advisor to the Board at International Emergency Response. Whilst within the bomb disposal team he was responsible for the North Sea and
so now was his opportunity. So in 2004 Ramora UK was formed - a risk, but with a tenacious attitude, it began.
IN A DAY’S WORK...
Formerly the military dealt with all bomb disposal emergency situations. Now Ramora follows the military expertise on a commercial footing and is therefore able to demonstrate all the skills routinely with the necessary capability, but to also minimise the costs. A commercial approach is vital when dealing with UXO offshore due to the vast sums of money that can be lost due to unnecessary shutdown.
PROJECTS
Due to the nature of his work, we can only mention generic case studies and not particular instances – suffice to say they respond to emergencies from life threatening to non-urgent. Always in a state of readiness, the team are perpetually checking their technical kit, Dave likens their role to that of a fireman, maintaining capability to operate on all levels – expecting that next call.
There are teams in readiness at all times to respond to any emergency, all vehicles are tracked around the country and may be diverted and despatched on a priority basis with support vehicles available with additional equipment. In most cases this is within 24 hours. However, in urgent cases the team can leave immediately and be on site in much shorter timescales.
RANGE OF SERVICES The team have been called out to respond to all manner of jobs. They provide a non-urgent service around the country to coastguard locations for collection of flares which have expired and therefore may be volatile and potentially dangerous requiring safe disposal. They have responded to scrap yards that have unearthed bombs – a circumstance which involves liaising with police, evacuating the area and making safe or detonating the device.
Channels, however at that time there was a shift within the MOD to cease certain aspects of service beyond the 12nm limit. This had a significant impact on the Oil and Gas industry, and it was at this juncture he realised there was a business opportunity. At that point Dave owned a charter boat company on the sidelines
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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