§ 20-27-1303 - Blasting standards. - Arkansas Statutes

20-27-1303. Blasting standards.

(a) Blasting shall be conducted to prevent injury to persons, damage to public or private property, adverse impact on any underground mine, and change in the course, channel, or availability of surface or ground water outside the mine's perimeter.

(b) (1) In blasting operations, airblast shall not exceed the maximum limits set forth in 30 C.F.R. 816.67(b), at the location of any structure, residence, public building, school, church, or commercial or institutional building outside the perimeter of a mine and owned or leased by a person other than the mine owner or operator.

(2) (A) If necessary to prevent damage, the Director of the Department of Labor may require lower maximum allowable airblast levels than those specified in subdivision (b)(1) of this section for use in the vicinity of a specific blasting operation.

(B) Such an action shall only be taken following consultation with whatever expert or experts the director deems appropriate.

(3) (A) The director may require airblast measurement of any or all blasts and may specify the locations at which such measurements are taken.

(B) The measuring system shall have an upper-end flat frequency response of at least two hundred hertz (200 Hz). The measuring system shall also have a low-end frequency response of two hertz (2 Hz) and be within minus three decibels (-3 dB) at two hertz (2 Hz).

(c) (1) Flyrock from blasting operations, traveling in the air or along the ground, should not be cast from the mine site.

(2) In the event that flyrock is cast from the mine site, the owner or operator and contractor shall be liable and responsible for any damages, including cleanup and removal of the flyrock.

(d) (1) (A) In blasting operations, ground vibration shall not exceed the maximum limits established in accordance with either the maximum peak particle velocity limits contained in 30 C.F.R. 816.67(d)(2), or the scaled-distance equation established at 30 C.F.R. 816.67(d)(3), at the location of any structure, residence, public building, school, church, or commercial or institutional building outside the perimeter of a mine and owned or leased by a person other than the mine owner or operator.

(B) If a seismographic record for a blast exists or is required, the maximum limit for ground vibration shall be the peak particle velocity limits contained in 30 C.F.R. 816.67(d)(2), at any structure, residence, public building, school, church, or commercial or institutional building.

(2) (A) If necessary to prevent damage, the director may require lower maximum allowable ground vibration levels than those specified in subdivision (d)(1) of this section for use in the vicinity of a specific blasting operation.

(B) Such action shall only be taken following consultation with whatever expert or experts the director deems appropriate.

(3) The director may require an owner or operator to conduct seismic monitoring of any blasts or may specify the location at which the measurements are taken and the degree of detail necessary in the measurement.

(e) (1) The maximum limits for airblast and ground vibration as specified in subdivisions (b)(1) and (d)(1) of this section shall be construed as the threshold below which blasting damage is unlikely to occur. However, the director shall have the authority to promulgate regulations requiring more or less restrictive limits, as appropriate.

(2) Such an action shall only be taken following consultation with whatever expert or experts the director deems appropriate.

(f) (1) If a pit or quarry is closer than three hundred feet (300') from any public highway, road, or street, no blasting shall be conducted without the prior written approval of the director.

(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (f)(1) of this section, any quarry or pit in existence on July 1, 1995, shall be allowed to continue operations without obtaining the written approval of the director.

(g) (1) All blasting operations shall be conducted between sunrise and sunset, unless extraordinary circumstances arise which would necessitate conducting a blast outside these hours.

(2) Such circumstances shall be documented in the blast records required by 20-27-1304.

(h) (1) Prior to the firing of a blast, the owner or operator or contractor shall follow a definite plan of warning signals that can be clearly seen or heard by anyone in the blasting area.

(2) The owner or operator shall inform all employees at the operation as to the established procedure.