Blast Management Plan Workshop

CMPA Secretariat reports on the successful day recently held in the North of Melbourne for CMPA members.

Under the Dangerous Goods (Explosives) Regulations 2011 (Explosives Regulations) a Blast Management Plan (BMP) must be prepared by a licensed Shotfirer before every blast. The Earth Resources Regulator also now requires a BMP as part of the risk based Work Plan application process.

In April 2012 WorkSafe released a Guidance Note “Blast Management Plan Template”. Quarry Managers have a responsibility for all the works on their sites. For example they need to ensure that the BMP has been completed for each shot and the Shotfirer is licensed for the type of blast proposed at the site.

On the 31st May 2018 the CMPA held a workshop to update members on their responsibilities with Blast Management Plans and to update the generic CMPA Blast Management Plan (BMP) document that can be utilised by all members for their sites.

The day commenced at the Casa D’Abruzzo Club in Epping with about 30 CMPA members in attendance.

Presentations were made by two regulators Ian McLeod (DEDJTR) and Anita Macartney (WorkSafe Victoria). Both provided valuable information on the expectations of BMP’s for quarry businesses.

Ian talked about the legislative requirements including that:

1. Every application for a blasting quarry requires an application for a work plan.
2. The work plan for a blasting quarry must include a blast management plan.
3. The blast management plan must be site specific and must identify any hazards, identify and assess any risks and prepare a risk management plan to address the risks that the extractive industry activities may pose to the environment, to any member of the public, or to land, property or infrastructure in the vicinity of the activities.
4. The blast management plan should list the blasting related events that require reporting to Earth Resources Regulation.

Anita spoke about the safety compliance requirements including regulations, Australian standards, licencing and incident reporting.

Presentations by Brian Calovic, Quarry Manager for (Conundrum Holdings) who talked about the role of the Quarry Manager including communication with community and detonations and misfires.

Luke Martyn, Reza Ghaemi and Ernest Martyn from Fullbore Drill & Blast sponsored the Blasting Workshop.

“Very positive and practical talks using examples and photos helping attendees to visualise and reinforce what they currently do at their quarry sites.”

A workers lunch brought opportunities to network with fellow members and to discuss what had been learned during the morning’s presentations.

After lunch a joint presentation was done by the workshop sponsor Fullbore Drill & Blast who provided a very professional presentation on the challenges of drill and blast design including
the safety risks for workers on site. They also touched on the latest in drilling technology. (see article)

Explosives supplier Orica soon followed with presentations from James Stockdale on preparation of the site for blasting and Graham Gordon on best practices for reducing NO2 emissions. They were very informative presentations causing a lot of discussions.

“Very relevant workshop to what we do in the workplace. Never knew about NO2 fumes until today.”

“My first CMPA workshop all presenters provided very good and relevant information.”

The last presentation of the day was conducted by David McKelvie of Safemix who facilitated group discussions in helping to provide information for updating the CMPA BMP template. A working group was formed to help the CMPA provide an updated publication for members.

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