Definitions, Rules and Regulations as per CMR

Fiery seam means a seam in which a fire or spontaneous heating exists in the workings below ground or in open cast workings lying within the precincts of a mine.

Gassy seam of the first degree means a coal seam or part thereof lying within the precincts of a mine not being an open cast working whether or not inflammable gas is actually detected in the general body of the air at any place in its workings below ground, or when the percentage of the inflammable gas if and when detected, in such general body of air does not exceed 0.1 and the rate of emission of such gas does not exceed one cubic meter per tonne of coal produced.

Gassy seams of the second degree means coal seams or part thereof lying within the precincts of a mine not being an open cast working in which the percentage of inflammable gas in the general body of air at any place in the workings of the seam is more than 0.1 or the rate of emission of inflammable gas per tonne of coal produced exceeds one cubic meter but does not exceed ten cubic meters

Gassy seams of the third degree means of coal seam or part thereof lying within the precincts of a mine not being an open cast workings in which the rate of emission of inflammable gas per tonne of coal produced exceeds ten cubic meters

Misfire means the failure to explode of an entire charge of explosives in a shothole.

Permitted explosive means an explosive manufactured by such firm and of such type as the Chief Inspector may from time to time specify by notification in the Official Gazette.

Type of Explosives to be used in mines

• Explosives provided by the owner, agent or manager shall be used
• No liquid oxygen explosives shall be used in any workings belowground.

Storage of explosives

• Explosives shall be stored as per provisions of Indian Explosives Act, 1884.
• Surplus explosives brought out of the mine at the end of a shift can be stored at a place approved by Regional Inspector.
• No explosives shall be stored below ground except prior permission from Chief Inspector.

Cartridges

Explosives, other than a fuse or a detonator shall be issued and used in mine in the form of a cartridge only and only in the form in which they are received.

The preparation of cartridges shall be carried out by a competent person and only at a place approved for the purpose.

Magazines, stores and premises to store explosives

• It should be under the charge of a competent person
• Explosives shall not be issued from the magazine unless they are required for immediate use. If any explosives are returned to the magazine or store or premises, they shall be reissue before fresh stock is used.
• Explosives shall be issued only to competent persons.
• All records to be maintained.

Cases and containers for carrying explosives

• Container of substantial construction and securely locked
• Cases or containers made of iron or steel shall be heavily galvanised
• No case or container provided for carrying detonators shall be constructed of metal or other conductive material.
• No detonator shall be kept in a case of container which contains other explosives, materials or tools
• Two or more types of detonators shall not be kept in the same case of container. Provided that nothing in this sub-regulation shall restrict the conveyance of primer cartridges fitted with detonators in the same case or container for use in a wet working or in a sinking shaft.
• No detonator shall be taken out from a case or container unless it is required for immediate use.
• No case or container shall contain more than five kilograms of explosives, and no person shall have in his possession at one time in any place more than one such case or container

Provided that the Chief Inspector may, by an order in writing and subject to such conditions as he may specify therein, permit the carrying of a larger quantity of explosives in a single case or container, or the use, at one time in one place, of more than one such case or container.

• Every case or container shall be numbered; and as far as practicable, the same case or container shall be issue to the same blaster or competent person, as the case may be, every day.
• The key of every case or container shall be retained by the blaster in his own possession throughout his shift.

Transport of explosives

• While explosives are being carried on a ladder, every case or container shall be securely fastened to the person carrying it.
• No person other than a shotfirer shall carry any priming cartridge into a shaft which is in the course of being sunk. No such cartridge shall be so carried except in a thick felt bag or other container sufficient to protect it from shock.

Transport of explosives in bulk

• Where explosives are transported in bulk for deephole blasting the provisions of this regulation shall apply.
• Transport of explosives from the magazine to the priming station or the site of blasting shall not be done except in day light and in the original wooden or card board packing case.
• The quantity of explosive transported at one time to the site of blasting shall not exceed the actual quantity required for use in one round of shots. The explosives shall be transported to the site of blasting not more than 30 minutes before the commencement of charging of the holes.
• No mechanically propelled vehicle shall be used for the transport of explosives unless it is of a type approved in writing by the Chief Inspector, provided that a Jeep or Land Rover may be used for the transport of detonators from magazines of priming stations’ subject to all the following conditions :

(i) not more than 200 detonators are transported in a vehicle at a time;

(ii) the detonators are packed suitably in a wooden box;

(iii) the wooden box containing detonators is placed inside an outer metal case of a construction approved by the Chief Inspector;

(iv) the outer metal case shall be suitably bolted to the floor of the vehicle or otherwise fixed in a wooden frame so that the container is not displaced while the vehicle is in motion; and

(v) no person shall ride on the rear portion of the vehicle.

• Every vehicle used for the transport of explosives shall be marked or placarded, on both sides and ends, with the word ‘EXPLOSIVES’ in redletters.
• Every mechanically propelled vehicle transporting explosives shall be provided with not less than two fire extinguishers (one of Carbon Tetra Chloride type for petroleum fire and the other of Carbon Dioxide under pressure type for electrical fire) suitably placed for immediate use.
• The vehicle used for transport of explosives shall not be overloaded, and in no case shall the explosive cases be piled higher than the sides of its body.
• Explosives and detonators shall not be transported in the same vehicle.
• A vehicle transporting explosives shall not be driven at a speed exceeding 25 Kilometer per hour.
• Every vehicle used for the transport of explosives shall be carefully inspected once in every 24 hours by a competent person.

Reserve Stations- No case container containing explosives shall be left or kept below ground except in a place appointed by the manager or assistant manger or underground manager for the purpose and so situated that it is not frequented by workpersons. Every such place shall be kept clean, safe and adequately fenced and legibly marked ‘RESERVE STATION’.

Shotfirers-  The preparation of charges an the charging and stemming of holes shall be carried out by or under the personal supervision of a competent person, in these regulations referred to as a ‘blaster’. The shotfirer shall fire the shots himself.

The manger shall fix, from time to time, the maximum number of shots that a shot-firer may fire in any one shift.

The number shall not in any case exceed:

(a) in the case of a gassy seam of the second or third degree or a fiery seam, forty, if a single shot exploder is used and eighty, if a multy-shot exploder is used;

(b) in the case of other seams fifty, in a single-shot exploder is used and hundred, if a multi-shot exploder is used.

(c) in the case of open cast mines sixty, if a single shot exploder is used or if blasting is done with ordinary detonators and one hundred and twenty, if a multi-shot exploder is used.

The number of detonators issued to, and in the possession of, a shot-firer during his shift shall not exceed the maximum number of shots that he is permitted to fire under subregulation.

Drilling, charging, stemming and firing of shotholes

•  No rill shall be used for boring a shothole unless it allows a clearance of at least 0.3 centimetre over the diameter of the cartridge of explosive which it is intended to use.
• No shothole shall be charged before it is thoroughly cleaned.
• No detonator shall be inserted into a priming cartridge until immediately before it is to be used.
• The charge in any shothole shall consist of one or more complete cartridges of the same diameter and the same type of explosive.
• The shotfirer shall, to the best of his judgment, ensure that no charge in a shothole is over-charged of under-charged, having regard to the task to be performed.
• No shothole shall be fired by a fuse less than 1.2 metres in length.
• Every shothole shall be stemmed with sufficient an suitable non-inflammable stemming so as to prevent the shot from blowing out. Only sand loosely filled in, or soft clay lightly pressed home, or a compact but not hard mixture of sand and clay or water shall be used as stemming.
• In charging or stemming a shothole, no metallic tool, scraper or rod shall be used; and no explosive shall be forcibly pressed into a hole of insufficient size.
• No shot shall be fired except in a properly drilled, charged an stemmed shothole.
• Blasting gelatine or other high explosives shall not be lighted in order to set fire to fuses.
• All surplus explosives shall be removed from the vicinity of a shothole before a lightis brought near it for the purpose of lighting the fuse.
• As far as practicable, a shot shall be fired by the same blaster who charged it.
• In any mine in which explosives other than gunpowder are used, every shot shall, if so required by the Regional Inspector, be fired electrically.
• Except in a stone drift or a sinking shaft, not more than 10 shots shall be fired in any one round. Where more than six shots are to be fired in one round, they shall be fired electrically.
• No shothole shall be charge except those which are to be fired in that round; and all shotholes which have bee charged shall be fired in one round.
• Where a large number of shots has to be fired, a shotfiring shall, as far as practicable, be carried out between shifts.
• No person shall remove any stemming, or pull out any detonator lead, or remove any explosive, from a shothole either before firing or after a misfire, or bore out a hole that has once been charged, or deepen or temper with empty holes or sockets.