Kentucky Administrative Regulations › Title 805 - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT CABINET › Chapter 4 - Division of Explosives and Blasting › Section 805 KAR 4:095 - Loading of explosives or blasting agents

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 1, July 1, 2024
RELATES TO: KRS 351.350, 351.990
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. Loading of Explosives or Blasting
			 Agents.
(1) Procedures that permit safe and
			 efficient loading shall be established before loading is started.
(2) All drill holes shall be sufficiently
			 large to admit freely the insertion of the cartridges of explosives.
(3) Tamping shall be done only with wood rods
			 or plastic tamping poles without exposed metal parts, but nonsparking metal
			 connectors may be used for jointed poles. Violent tamping shall be avoided. The
			 primer shall never be tamped.
(4)
			 No holes shall be loaded except those to be fired in the next round of
			 blasting. After loading, all remaining explosives and detonators shall be
			 immediately returned to an authorized magazine.
(5) Drilling shall not be started until all
			 remaining butts of old holes are examined for unexploded charges, and if any
			 are found, they shall be refired before work proceeds.
(6) No person shall be allowed to deepen
			 drill holes which have contained explosives or blasting agents.
(7) No explosives or blasting agents shall be
			 left unattended at the blast site.
(8) Machines and all tools not used for
			 drilling, loading and covering the blast shall be removed from the immediate
			 location of holes before explosives are delivered.
(9) No activity of any nature other than that
			 which is required for blasting shall be permitted in a blast area.
(10) Power lines and portable electric cables
			 for equipment being used shall be kept a safe distance from explosives or
			 blasting agents being loaded into drill holes. Cables in the proximity of the
			 blast area shall be deenergized and locked out by the blaster.
(11) Holes shall be checked prior to loading
			 to determine the depth and conditions. Holes shall not be drilled where there
			 is a danger of intersecting a charged or misfired hole.
(12) When loading a long line of holes with
			 more than one (1) loading crew, the crew shall be separated by practical
			 distance consistent with efficient operation and supervision of
			 crews.
(13) No explosives shall be
			 loaded or used underground in the presence of combustible gases or combustible
			 dusts.
(14) In underground
			 blasting, explosives in Fume Class I, as set forth by the Institute of the
			 Makers of Explosives, shall be used; provided, however, that Fume Class I
			 explosives are not required when ventilation adequate to dissipate all fumes is
			 provided and the workings are abandoned for a period of time sufficient to
			 allow dissipation of all fumes.
(15) All blast holes in open work shall be
			 stemmed to the collar or to a point which will confine the charge.
(16) Warning signs, indicating a blast area,
			 shall be maintained at all approaches to the blast area. The warning sign
			 lettering shall not be less than four (4) inches in height on a contrasting
			 background. This subsection does not apply to surface mining.
(17) A borehole shall never be sprung when it
			 is adjacent to or near a hole that is loaded. Flashlight batteries shall not be
			 used for springing holes.
(18)
			 Drill holes that have been sprung or chambered, and which are not water-filled,
			 shall be allowed to cool before explosives are loaded.
(19) No loaded holes shall be left unattended
			 or unprotected.
(20) The blaster
			 shall keep an accurate, up-to-date record of explosives, blasting agents, and
			 blasting supplies used in a blast and shall keep an accurate running inventory
			 of all explosives and blasting agents stored on the operation.