196. Drilling, charging, stemming and firing of shotholes.
(1)No drill shall be used for drilling 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.(2)No shothole shall be charged before it is thoroughly cleaned.(3)Before any shothole is charged, the direction of the hole shall, where practicable, be distinctly marked on the roof or other convenient place.(4)No detonator shall be inserted into a priming cartridge until immediately before it is to be used, however that in case of wet working, priming cartridges may be prepared at the nearest convenient dry place and such primed cartridges shall be carried to the working place in a securely closed case or container.(5)Detonators once inserted into a priming cartridge shall not be taken out.(6)In belowground working the explosive used in any shot-hole shall be of the same type.(7)In opencast mines, to use two types of explosives in any shot-hole, the manager shall frame and enforce standing orders for the safe use of explosives and a copy of the same shall be submitted to the Regional Inspector.(8)The shotfirer shall, to the best of his judgment, ensure that no shothole is over-charged or under-charged, having regard to the task to be performed.(9)Shots shall be fired electrically or by any other means or instruments or apparatus as approved by the Chief Inspector.(10)Every shothole shall be stemmed with sufficient and suitable non-inflammable stemming so as to prevent the shot from blowing out and only sand loosely filled in, or soft clay lightly pressed home, or a compact but not bard mixture of sand and clay or water shall be used as stemming.(11)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.(12)No shot shall be fired except in a properly drilled, charged and stemmed shothole.(13)Blasting gelatin or other high explosives shall not be lighted in order to set fire to fuses.(14)All surplus explosives shall be removed from the vicinity of a shothole before a light is brought near it for the purpose of lighting the fuse.(15)As far as practicable a shot shall be fired by the same blaster who charged it.(16)Except in a stone drift or a sinking shaft, not more than 16 shots shall be fired in any one round:Provided that where more than six shots ate to be fired in one round, they shall be fired electrically:Provided further that in the case of opencast working any number of shots can be fired in one round if they are fired electrically by an approved type of shotfiring device of adequate capacity.(17)No shothole shall be charged except those which are to be fired in that round and all shotholes which have been charged shall be fired in one round.(18)Where a large number of shots have to be fired, shotfiring shall, as far as practicable, be carried out between shifts.(19)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 tamper with empty holes or sockets.
