216Blasting preparation

216 Blasting preparation (1) A person charging blast holes with explosives must— (a) if practicable, be positioned so that no part of the person’s body is in line with the direction of the hole; and

(b) position the primer in the blast hole to minimise the likelihood of a cut-off in the blasting sequence; and (c) if tamping is required—tamp the explosives gently into blast holes of an appropriate size; and (d) if stemming is required—stem the blast holes by tamping the stemming material lightly, gradually increasing the force until the blast hole is stemmed; and (e) ensure that any lead wires, safety fuse, detonating cord or signal tube are not damaged during stemming and tamping. (2) A person charging explosives into a blast hole must use a tamping rod— (a) made of wood or other nonmetallic material without any metal ferrule or tip; and (b) kept free of grit at the ends. (3) For top-primed blast holes, tamping may only begin after at least 150mm of stemming material has been placed in the blast hole.