Explosives and security risk
substances on mine sites –
roles and responsibilities
current as of December 2013
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Introduction
The dangerous goods and mines safety legislation are
complementary:
– Dangerous Goods Safety Act 2004 and Explosives
and Security Risk Substances Regulations provide
for explosives and dangerous goods, including
security risk substances (SRS), safety and security
within a licensing regime
– Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 and
regulations address occupational safety and
health of persons who work at mines
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Explosives regulations – qualified officer
• Responsible for safety and security of any explosive
and SRS possessed by licence holder
• Responsible for implementation of explosives
management plan (EMP)
– e.g. inventory management, stocktakes,
inspections, EMP auditing, individuals licensed,
cleared and trained
• Must be current employee and have dangerous
goods security card
• More than one person may be nominated
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Mines safety regulations – responsible person
• Principal employer at the mine, any other employer at
the mine and the mine manager
• Each responsible person at a mine is to ensure that
the manufacture, storage, transport, supply, use and
disposal of any explosive at the mine is in
accordance with the Dangerous Goods Safety Act
2004 and regulations, including the EMP
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Explosives regulations – EMPs
• EMPs are prepared to:
– demonstrate that risks have been adequately assessed in
relation to safety, security and emergency response matters
– provide assurance that control measures are adequate
• Use of the EMP template provided by Resources Safety
is not mandatory but its use will ensure consistency in
its application and streamline the review process.
• EMPs are reviewed by Resources Safety as part of the
licensing process for licences to manufacture
explosives, manufacture explosives for a mobile
processing unit (MPU), and store or transport
explosives
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Explosives and SRS Regulations –
secure nominee
• Must be
– Under the management control of the licence holder (as an
employee or contractor) and authorised by licence holder to
have unsupervised access to explosives or SRS
– Trained to safely handle explosives or SRS
– Hold a dangerous goods security card
• Secure nominee may have unsupervised access to
explosives or SRS
• May supervise individuals who are not secure
employees
• Must have the security card with them at all times
when in possession of explosives or SRS
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Explosives Regulations – magazine keeper
• Licence holder must appoint magazine keeper(s) to
be in charge of each magazine held by the licensee
• Magazine keeper responsible for:
– Housekeeping (Section 4.3)
– Maintenance (Section 4.4)
– Materials handling equipment (Section 4.5)
– Management (section 4.6)
– Maintenance of records (Section 4.7)
• Magazine keeper must be a secure nominee
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Explosives Regulations – shotfirer
• Must have a shotfiring licence valid for the blasting
activity (i.e. surface, underground)
• Must have a dangerous goods security card and be a
secure nominee of the licence holder
• Nominated shotfirer to sign off on blast plan and
control the blasting operation
• Person who fires the shot must be a shotfirer or
supervised by a shotfirer
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Explosives and SRS Regulations –
inventory management
• Explosives or SRS storage licensee must keep a
proper inventory
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–
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Details of each explosive or SRS received or dispatched
Date and time of receipt or dispatch
Person who received or dispatched explosives or SRS
Licence details for person receiving or dispatching
Quantity of explosives or SRS stored after receipt or
dispatch
– Records kept for two years
• Failure to keep accurate records may invalidate the
explosives or SRS storage licence
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Incident reporting
• Person in control or management of explosives must
report to a Dangerous Goods Officer as soon as
practicable:
– any incident involving explosives
– any malfunction of explosives, not involving a misfire
– theft or attempted theft of an explosive
• Dangerous goods incident reporting form and
guideline are available on Resources Safety website
• Mine manager must also report incidents as per the
mines safety legislation (done as normal through
online Safety Regulation System)
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety
Useful links
Visit Resources Safety’s dangerous goods and
explosives on mine sites page for further
resources
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/14513.aspx
www.dmp.wa.gov.au/ResourcesSafety