Kentucky Administrative Regulations › Title 805 - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT CABINET › Chapter 4 - Division of Explosives and Blasting › Section 805 KAR 4:075 - General blasting provisions

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 1, July 1, 2024
RELATES TO: KRS 351.350
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 351.335 requires the
				Department for Natural Resources to promulgate rules and administrative
				regulations concerning the manufacture, transportation, sale, storage, or use
				of explosives and unassembled components of explosives, and the maintenance of
				such explosives which has a direct bearing on safety to life and property. This
				administrative regulation effects the provisions of that law.
Section 1.
(1) An employer shall permit only authorized
			 and qualified persons to handle and use explosives.
(2) Smoking, firearms, matches, open flame
			 lamps, and other fires, flame, or heat producing devices and sparks shall be
			 prohibited in or near explosive magazines or while explosives are being
			 handled, transported, or used.
(3)
			 No person shall be allowed to handle or use explosives while under the
			 influence of intoxicating liquors, narcotics, or other dangerous
			 drugs.
(4) All explosives shall be
			 accounted for at all times. Explosives not being used shall be kept in a locked
			 magazine, unavailable to persons not authorized to handle them. The employer
			 shall maintain an inventory and use record of all explosives. Appropriate
			 authorities shall be notified of any loss, theft, or unauthorized entry into a
			 magazine.
(5) No explosives or
			 blasting agents shall be abandoned.
(6) No fire shall be fought where the fire is
			 in imminent danger of contact with explosives. All employees shall be removed
			 to a safe area and the fire area guarded against intruders.
(7) Original containers or equivalent
			 packaging materials, shall be used for taking detonators and other explosives
			 from storage magazines to the blasting area.
(8) When blasting is done in congested areas
			 or in proximity to a structure, railway, or highway, or any other installation
			 that may be damaged, the blaster shall take special precautions in the loading,
			 delaying, initiation, and confinement of each blast with mats or other methods
			 so as to control the throw of fragments, and thus prevent bodily injury or
			 death.
(9) Employees authorized to
			 prepare explosive charges or conduct blasting operations shall use every
			 reasonable precaution including, but not limited to, visual and audible warning
			 signals, flags, or barricades, to ensure safety to all persons.
(10) In so far as possible, blasting
			 operations above ground shall be conducted between sunup and sundown.
(11) Empty boxes and paper and fiber packing
			 materials which have previously contained high explosives shall not be used
			 again for any purpose, but shall be destroyed by burning at an approved
			 location.
(12) Explosives, blasting
			 agents, and blasting supplies that are obviously deteriorated or damaged shall
			 not be used.
(13) Delivery and
			 issue of explosives shall only be made by and to authorized persons and into
			 authorized magazines or approved temporary storage or handling areas.
(14) Blasting operations in the proximity of
			 overhead power lines, communication lines, utility services, or other services
			 or structures shall not be carried on until the operators and/or owners have
			 been notified at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance and measures for safe
			 control have been taken.
(15) The
			 use of black powder shall be prohibited, except when a desired result cannot be
			 obtained with another type of explosive such as in quarrying certain types of
			 dimension stone.
(16) All loading
			 and firing shall be directed and supervised by competent persons thoroughly
			 experienced in this field.
(17) No
			 one shall be permitted to carry detonators or primers of any kind on his
			 person; provided, however, that it shall not be unlawful to carry detonators or
			 primers in one's hands.