1. Drilling and Blasting
Toolbox Talk : 17
Updated October 2015
Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives A reminder of the power of detonators and explosives.
Target Audience
Anybody likely to come into contact with explosives or detonators.
Note
This toolbox talk has been generated from one developed by EPC-UK.
The videos employed remain copyright of EPC-UK and should not be reproduced or copied in any way.
This toolbox talk may be freely reproduced except for advertising, endorsement or commercial purposes. It has been developed by the Quarries National Joint Advisory Committee (QNJAC) to help quarry operators, contractors, managers and others make health and safety improvements in the quarry industry.
This guidance represents good practice which may go further than the minimum you need to do to comply with the law.
If you use the information provided in this document please acknowledge ‘QNJAC’ as the source .

2. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
Those involved in extractive industries have the possibility of coming into contact with explosives and detonators.
Transport
Excavation
Shotfiring

3. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
What do the detonators look like ?
Some examples of detonators are shown here
Remember that they may not be in such good condition if you find them in a post-blast muck pile or in a stock-pile.

4. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
Although detonators contain a relatively small amount of explosive an unintended detonation close to a person can cause serious injury
In the following videos you can see the effect of a detonator firing close to a person
In this case it is a shop dummy

5. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
Standard Speed Video
Video available at

6. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
High speed video at 1,000 frames per second
Video available at

7. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
Whilst a shop dummy is not a good model of a real person the impact of such a detonation can be imagined

8. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
The dummy is wearing safety glasses and these have protected her eyes from the high-velocity impact of the detonator shrapnel

9. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
What do the explosives look like ?
Some examples of explosives are shown here
Remember that they may not be in such good condition if you find them in a post-blast muck pile or in a stock-pile.

10. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
No amount of safety equipment will protect you from the effects of an unintended detonation of a cartridge of explosives or a primer
In the following videos our shop dummy is holding a 200 g cartridge of dynamite
200g is about half the size of a standard primer and about a twentieth of the size of a normal cartridge of explosive used in surface mining or quarrying

11. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
Standard Speed Video
Video available at

12. Don’t be a Dummy with Explosives
High Speed Video : 300 frames per second
Video available at

13. DON’T BE A DUMMY
WITH EXPLOSIVES