North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 13 - LABOR › Chapter 07 - OFFICE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH › Subchapter F - STANDARDS › Section .0700 - BLASTING AND USE OF EXPLOSIVES › Section 07F .0703 - GENERAL PROVISIONS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
Additions and amendments to
					 29 CFR
					 1926.900 General Provisions apply throughout
					 the Rules in this Section as follows:
(a) The employer shall permit only persons
				  qualified pursuant to §1926.901 to handle and use explosives. A blaster
				  shall be in charge of each blasting operation; hereafter, referred to as the
				  Blaster-in-Charge.
(b) Smoking,
				  firearms, sparks, open flame or heat producing devices shall be prohibited
				  where explosives are being stored, handled, transported or used. Exception:
				  This does not apply to devices specifically designed to initiate detonation,
				  which by their nature produce heat or sparks.
(c) See 1926.901(b).
(d) All explosives shall be accounted for at
				  all times. Explosives not being used and not attended shall be kept in a
				  magazine or container that meets the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
				  Firearms (hereafter, ATF) storage and access requirements contained in 27 CFR
				  Part 55, which is incorporated herein by reference, including any subsequent
				  amendments and editions. Each employer shall maintain an inventory and use
				  record of all explosives in that employer's possession. The employer, or
				  employer authorized person, shall comply with all applicable local, State and
				  federal laws and regulations requiring notification of any loss, theft, or
				  unauthorized entry into a magazine or container.
(g) Original containers, ATF Type 2, Type 3,
				  Type 4 or Type 5 magazines or Institute of Makers of Explosives (hereafter,
				  IME) - 22 containers, shall be used for taking detonators and other explosives
				  from storage magazines to the blast site.
(h) In proximity to people, a structure,
				  railway, highway or any other installation, the blaster shall take additional
				  precautions to control the throw of fragments and to prevent bodily injury to
				  employees and people not working directly on the blasting operation. Such
				  additional precautions shall be taken in the loading, delaying, initiation and
				  confinement of each blast and shall include confinement with mats or with mats
				  and other methods.
(i) All blast
				  site employees shall follow the directions of the Blaster-in-Charge. All blast
				  site employees shall use and adhere to every precaution to ensure employee
				  safety including, but not limited to, visual and audible warning signals,
				  flags, or barricades.
(k)
				  Precautions shall be taken to prevent accidental discharge of electric
				  detonators from current induced by radar, radio transmitters including 2-way
				  radios and mobile telephones, lightning, adjacent powerlines, dust storms, or
				  other sources of extraneous electricity. These precautions shall include:
(1) See Section 1926.906(a) and
				  (b).
(2) At the approach and
				  progress of an electric storm, blasting operations shall be suspended and
				  personnel removed to an area safe from concussion (shock wave), flying
				  material, or gases from an explosion.
(3)
(i) The
				  prominent display of adequate signs, warning against the use of mobile radio
				  transmitters, (e.g., telephones and 2-way radios) on all roads within 1,000
				  feet of electric blasting operations. If adherence to the 1,000-foot distance
				  would create an operational handicap, then a competent person (as defined in
				  29 CFR
				  1926 Subparts L and P) shall be consulted to
				  evaluate the particular situation, and alternative provisions may be made which
				  are designed to prevent any premature firing of electric detonators. A
				  description of any such alternatives shall be reduced to writing and shall be
				  certified by the competent person consulted as meeting the purposes of this
				  subdivision. The description shall be maintained at the construction during the
				  duration of the work, and shall be available for inspection by representatives
				  of the Commissioner of Labor.
(ii)
				  Examples of signs which would meet the requirements of paragraphs (i) and
				  (k)(3) of this section are the following:
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BLASTING TURN OFF
ZONE 2-WAY
1000 FT RADIO
About 48" x 48" About 42" x 36"
(4) Ensuring that mobile
				  transmitters including telephones and 2-way radios which are less than 100 feet
				  away from electric detonators, in other than original containers, shall be
				  de-energized and effectively prevented from operating, (e.g.,
				  locked);
(5) The Blaster-in-Charge
				  shall comply with the recommendations of IME with regard to blasting in the
				  vicinity of radio transmitters as stipulated in Safety Guide for the Prevention
				  of Radio Frequency Radiation Hazards in the Use of Commercial Electric
				  Detonators (Blasting Caps), IME Safety Library Publication No. 20, 2000, which
				  is incorporated herein by reference, including any subsequent amendments and
				  editions.