ABSTRACT

According to the ISEE Blaster´s Handbook, the methods of handling blasting risk are: i) Risk Rejection: the decision to avoid to take a risk or to afford a risk-potential situation (the so-called “zero-solution”); ii) Risk Transfer: the legal transfer of the risk to third figures, such as external contractors; iii) Risk Reduction: the process of adopting procedures and employing assets to prevent the occurrence or reduce the impact of an

1 INTRODUCTION

A mining and civil rock blast is a sudden activity, characterized by a large release of energy in a small amount of time, typically in the order of fraction of seconds, and is the results of a longer previous activity of planning, drilling, charging and connecting operations. Due to its rapid happening, there is no time for remediation when the firing signal is given, and the result of the preparing operations can only be a success or a threat at the blasting time, with no mid-term solutions. According to the Blaster´s Handbook of the International Society of Explosives Engineers (ISEE, 2011), a preeminent international reference for Blasting Activities, “With blasting, the two main possibilities are the successful and uneventful completion of the project or an unplanned event (an accident/ occurrence) that puts the job in jeopardy”. This peculiar condition gives to the blasting operations a critical risk condition. The imperative necessity is to undertake every risk avoidance policy at the time of planning and preparing the blast, since no remediation is possible afterwards. Unplanned consequences in rock blasting mainly lead to three types of risk:

a. Health and Safety Risk: an imperative primary concern, that can cause injuries and/or fatalities due accidents directly related with explosives

unplanned event; iv) Risk Assumption: assuming the residual risk, after having taken all the feasible precautions to reduce the risk as low as possible. Risk Reduction and Management is the job of the explosives engineer, in order to be able to handle every possible tool at the time of the decisionmaking. Modern blast planning and design are evolving to face theses challenges in risk management. The present paper reviews the main applications of vanguard intelligence in Blasting Risk Management.