On March 22, 2016, a 42-year old lead man with 6 years of mining experience was fatally injured at a surface limestone mine when he was struck by fly rock from blasting operations. The lead man was parked in his pickup truck at a location to prevent others from accessing the blasting site. He was approximately 1,200 feet from the blast area.
Best Practices
- Review and follow site specific blast plan prior to loading any explosives.
- Utilize technology, such as face profilers and borehole probes, to obtain specific geometric details of the material to be blasted.
- Adjust stemming depth and/or decking to maintain adequate burden on all sections of the blast hole.
- Develop a drill pattern by considering geology, face geometry, and surface topography.
- Clear and remove all persons from the blast area unless suitable blasting shelters are provided to protect persons from flyrock. Allow at least 15 seconds after a blast for any flyrock to drop.
- Examine blast site geology, communicate with the driller and review the drill log for angles, voids, competency of rock, loss of air, etc., prior to the loading any explosives. Make appropriate adjustments to ensure that the holes are not overloaded.
- Ensure blasting and fly rock areas are properly calculated to ensure the blast site is clear of all persons.
- Determine the actual burden for all face holes along their length and adjust the explosive power factor along the borehole accordingly.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (pdf).
Incredibly sad but just goes to show how seriously safety needs to be taken. There are no cutting corners when it comes to blasting.