Black blasting powder and explosives; underground storage, use,
and handling
Sec. 5. (a) Black blasting powder shall not be stored, handled, or
used underground in a mine.
(b) All explosives used underground in coal mines shall be of the
permissible type and shall be used as follows:
(1) Fired only with electric detonators of proper strength.
(2) Fired with permissible shot-firing units or fired by other
devices permitted by the United States Mine Safety and Health
Administration, unless firing is done from the surface when all
persons are out of the mine. Shots may be fired with a
nonpermissible shot-firing unit with persons in the mine but not
in by the last open cross-cut provided an application has been
filed with and approved by the director. Such application must
include the following:
(A) The name and address of the mine.
(B) The active workings in the mine in which such units will
be used and the approximate number of shots to be fired.
(C) The period during which such units are to be used.
(D) The nature of the development or construction for which
they will be used, e.g., overcasts, undercasts, track grading,
roof brushing, or boomholes.
(E) A plan, proposed by the operator designed to protect
miners in the mine from the hazards of methane and other
explosive gases during each multiple shot, e.g., changes in
the mine ventilation system, provisions for auxiliary
ventilation and any other safeguards necessary to minimize
such hazards.
(F) A statement of the specific hazards anticipated by the
operator in blasting for overcasts, undercasts, track grading,
brushing of roof, boomholes, or other unusual blasting
situations such as coalbeds of abnormal thickness.
(G) The method to be employed in the use of nonpermissible
shot-firing units to avoid the dangers anticipated during
development or construction which will ensure the
protection of life and the prevention of injuries to the miners
exposed to such underground blasting.
(3) Where the coal is cut, shots shall not be fired if the blast
hole is drilled beyond the limits of the cut.
(4) Boreholes shall be cleaned, and they shall be checked by the
shot-firer to see that they are placed properly and are of correct
depth, in relation to the cut, before being charged. Improperly
drilled holes shall not be charged.
(5) All blasting charges in coal shall have a burden of at least
eighteen (18) inches in all directions if the height of the coal
permits.
(6) Boreholes shall be stemmed with at least twenty-four (24)
inches of incombustible material, or at least one-half (1/2) of
the length of the hole shall be stemmed if the hole is less than
four (4) feet in depth, unless other permissible stemming
devices or methods are used.
(7) Shots shall not be fired in any place where methane can be
detected with a methane detector approved by the United States
Mine Safety and Health Administration or a flame safety lamp
when tested at a point not less than twelve (12) inches from
roof, face, and rib.
(8) Charges exceeding one and one-half (1 1/2) pounds, but not
exceeding three (3) pounds, shall be used only if boreholes are
six (6) feet or more in depth, the explosives are charged in a
continuous train, with no cartridges deliberately deformed or
crushed, with all cartridges in contact with each other, and with
the end cartridge touching the back of the hole and the
stemming respectively, and Class A or Class B permissible
explosives are used. However, the three (3) pound limit does
not apply to solid rock work.
(9) Boreholes shall not be charged while any other work is
being done at the face, and the shot or shots shall be fired
before any other work is done in the zone of danger from
blasting, except that which is necessary to safeguard the
employees.
(10) Only nonmetallic tamping bars shall be used for charging
and tamping boreholes. This does not prohibit the use of a
nonmetallic tamping bar with a nonsparking metallic scraper on
one (1) end.
(11) The leg wires of electric detonators shall be kept shunted
until ready to connect to the firing cable.
(12) Shots shall not be fired from the power or signal circuit
while any persons are in the mine.
(13) The roof and ribs of working places shall be tested before
and after firing each shot or group of multiple shots.
(14) Ample warning shall be given before shots are fired, and
care shall be taken to ascertain that all persons are in the clear.
Persons shall be removed from adjoining working places when
there is danger of a shot blowing through.
(15) Mixed types or brands of explosives shall not be charged
or fired in any borehole.
(16) Shots shall be prepared and fired by certified shot firers.
(17) Except for mudcaps (adobes) approved by the federal Mine
Safety and Health Administration, mudcaps (adobes) or other
unconfined shots shall not be fired underground in a mine.
(Formerly: Acts 1955, c.168, s.44.) As amended by P.L.231-1983,
SEC.12; P.L.243-1987, SEC.5; P.L.165-1997, SEC.5.
Last modified: May 27, 2006