Chief aftermath

Another factor which complicated the personnel situation was the growth in the number of field inspection offices, the aftermath of the increased number of contracts. The CWS had to make provision with the Civil Service Commission to permit chief inspectors in certain field offices to hire all personnel under blanket authorities issued by the commission. As time went on the procurement districts, like other installations, hired more and more women to do jobs formerly done by men. 

Even more than other elements of the Army, the Chemical Warfare Service (designated Chemical Corps after World War II) felt the effects of the government s restrictions on personnel and funds in the years between the two world wars. This was partly the aftermath of international efforts to outlaw gas warfare and partly the result of antipathy to that type of warfare on the part of various high government officials. Certain members of the War Department General Staff, including at times the Chief of Staff himself, were opposed to gas warfare. Consequently the Chemical Warfare Service was considered as more or less a necessary nuisance. 

Whilst the pile was still on fire, it was suggested that the local population should be evacuated. The Chief Constable of the county had been contacted. One of the more extraordinary features of the whole incident is that there were no plans in place to cope with an evacuation, nor were there any plans to deal with any large-scale radioactive leaks, nor even was there any real idea of the potential health hazards of any leak. There were no standards laid down as to what levels of contamination of the surrounding area by different isotopes might he hazardous. In one sense, all leaks present a hazard, but some leaks are more serious than others, and the medical staff needed to know what action should be taken given a specific leak. It seems that no estimates had been made of the effects of possible contamination on the local population before the accident, and that the teams provided to survey the area in the aftermath of the leak were totally inadequate. 

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