OHS GONE MAD

My boy spent the xmas uni break working with a blast crew on a mine.
He showed me a safety report about a scraper picking up a missed miss fire.Now that would be an OH WOW moment.The resultant blast was contained within the scrapers bowl wich sustained substantial damage,operator un-injured.
Andrew

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Originally Posted by jonesfam

Each State may be different but in QLD the business hiring the contractor needs to be satisfied (sight & deem compliant) that the contractor has a WHS policy/plan.
Unless there is interaction with other employees that may be a risk there is no need for the business to apply their WHS to the contractor as long has they have their own.
Jonesfam

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Yep, 100%. My point is the actual manner of operation or skills of trade. These should be 100% the responsability of the contractor. We have specific guidelines for interaction including exclusion zones which cannot be entered without radio comunications or worked in at the se time as us.

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Originally Posted by LandyAndy

My boy spent the xmas uni break working with a blast crew on a mine.
He showed me a safety report about a scraper picking up a missed miss fire.Now that would be an OH WOW moment.The resultant blast was contained within the scrapers bowl wich sustained substantial damage,operator un-injured.
Andrew

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Like to see that. Its what we do. Very interesting that it went off. Not normal at all. Was it Australia? To go off ot would have needed tall the stars and moons to align. Ive drilled right through a det and booster starting a hole. They would have been from the shot above. So they would have been driven over and all sorts. It takes a bit to make it go bang, thats why we have 3 items, det, booster and product.

Over the years, I've seen many explosives / boosters / dets etc go through crushing circuits. Very rare for them to go off though. Only one I can remember got through the primary and secondary crushers OK, but went off with a hell of a bang in the tertiary. Did a bit of damage though. ;)

I've also intentionally used explosives many times in crushers, either to pop a large rock or to "crack the thread" on a Symons crusher when the operator had been over-enthusiastic in winding down the bowl to close up the gap, and run the crusher with the thread bottomed out. These days, such practises are banned. :angel:

Worst example I can remember is when someone popped a large rock in the primary crusher at the Goodall Mine in the NT. Blew the adjacent operator's control cabin right off its mounting structure ................ :o

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Originally Posted by tonic

Like to see that. Its what we do. Very interesting that it went off. Not normal at all. Was it Australia? To go off ot would have needed tall the stars and moons to align. Ive drilled right through a det and booster starting a hole. They would have been from the shot above. So they would have been driven over and all sorts. It takes a bit to make it go bang, thats why we have 3 items, det, booster and product.

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It was Awestralia,in fact it was with BMKals mob;););););)
Brian got my boy work with them,he is an engineering student at UWA.They are mentoring him,he has the option of working for them after he gets his degree.
Andrew

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Originally Posted by BMKal

Worst example I can remember is when someone popped a large rock in the primary crusher at the Goodall Mine in the NT. Blew the adjacent operator's control cabin right off its mounting structure ................ :o

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Yep, some people dont get how powerful it is. We did a big boulder job once where there previous contractor kept loosing holes but blasted without redrill. These were 10 to 12t , about 6 to 8 feet diameter. 40g boosters with 25mm of anfo in the bottom of a coke can measure placed half way in with an 89mm hole worked just right.

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Originally Posted by tonic

Like to see that. Its what we do. Very interesting that it went off. Not normal at all. Was it Australia? To go off ot would have needed tall the stars and moons to align. Ive drilled right through a det and booster starting a hole. They would have been from the shot above. So they would have been driven over and all sorts. It takes a bit to make it go bang, thats why we have 3 items, det, booster and product.

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Excavator dug a plug up during night shift at a mine I was managing, blew the widow out, operator shaken but otherwise luckily OK. 450gram booster, a huge booster for the task, overkill, but bulk product manufacturer insists their product needs such or risk misfires. But as you mention, 99% of misfires are discovered and safely dealt with or go through to the keeper and probably lay dormant in waste dumps somewhere...overall it's a very safe (and HIGHLY regulated) work practice.

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Originally Posted by Greatsouthernland

450gram booster, a huge booster for the task, overkill, but bulk product manufacturer insists their product needs such or risk misfires. .

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Ah yes, upselling via safety to make more money. My standard reply to that is "Oh well, we better not use you if the risk is that high that your product wont work" I love watching the gulp for air when you use there own selling techniques against them.

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Originally Posted by tonic

Ah yes, upselling via safety to make more money. My standard reply to that is "Oh well, we better not use you if the risk is that high that your product wont work" I love watching the gulp for air when you use there own selling techniques against them.

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Agreed. If I get to pick next supplier, then I'll remember this ploy, not much could be done once they were in. Anyway, bit of a downturn apparently, so I'm on the sidelines til the upswing I spose :(

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Originally Posted by Greatsouthernland

Excavator dug a plug up during night shift at a mine I was managing, blew the widow out, operator shaken but otherwise luckily OK. 450gram booster, a huge booster for the task, overkill, but bulk product manufacturer insists their product needs such or risk misfires. But as you mention, 99% of misfires are discovered and safely dealt with or go through to the keeper and probably lay dormant in waste dumps somewhere...overall it's a very safe (and HIGHLY regulated) work practice.

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I've been drilling and blasting for 22 years now and have only ever known of one case of a unknown misfire going of when the shovel contacted it in the face. The world has changed a lot since I first started with more controls put in place you would hate to know what I've seen happen in the past with complacency. What hasn't changed in those years is you can't fix stupid. The two major explosive suppliers would not be using a 450 g ppp booster I'd be interested in who would need that Kind of VOD to set of bulk explosives.
Dan