Legislation, Regulation and Industry Standards for Shot Firing
Shot firing sits within a layered legal framework. At the top are the general duties owed by employers and the self-employed to protect the health and safety of workers and others affected by the work; these general duties are qualified by "so far as is reasonably practicable". Below that sit the sector-specific explosives regulations governing the acquisition, keeping, use and transfer of explosives, and the licensing or registration regime for storage. Shotfiring also engages the quarrying and mining safety regime, which imposes duties on operators, appoints statutory competent persons, and requires written rules and supervision for blasting operations.
Candidates must understand the difference between absolute duties, duties qualified by reasonable practicability, and duties to take all reasonable precautions. Questions often test who holds the duty (the operator, the manager, the shotfirer, the individual worker), and what must be notified to the enforcing authority. Another common trap is confusing the approval of explosives (type approval/classification) with the licensing of the site where they are kept.
Key concepts to name: risk assessment, competent person, appointed shotfirer, explosive certificate/licence, transfer record, notification of blasting, and the site's written blasting rules. Remember that the shotfirer's personal duty to comply with the site rules does not displace the operator's overarching duty.
Rule of thumb: if a question asks "who is responsible?", the safest answer names the duty holder the regulation places it on (usually the operator or employer), not simply "the shotfirer".
Worked example: a site changes its magazine capacity. The operator, not the shotfirer, must ensure the storage licence/registration reflects the new quantity before the extra explosive is delivered.