ABSTRACT
This chapter provides four ways of enhancing safety such as personal precautions, inofficial recommendations, local safe operating procedures, and government regulations. Personal precautions are extremely important because they are what the person directly involved with the explosive on site can actually do to maintain a safe operation and to avoid accidents. Inofficial recommendations include, for example, precautions recommended by an insurance company, and the threat by an employer to terminate an employee who does not follow local safety rules and regulations. Safe operating procedures, sometimes referred to as standard operating procedures, are the most important means of maintaining a safe operation. They specifically address the situation at a given workplace during the performance of a specific procedure. Government regulations provide a framework for enforcing safe behavior, a legal system for prevention of unsafe procedures, and prosecution after the fact in those cases where an accident may have been caused by a violation of specific regulations.
