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This is a short review on ongoing work and interests in Division 2.6 of BAM with a focus on transport regulations and related testing. The behaviour of primer caps in different packaging configurations is addressed and the new apparatus for the "Minimum Burning Pressure" test is presented. Further topics regarding classification are touched with the aim to attract comments and stimulate cooperation internationally.
Several decades have passed since the initial drafting of the European standards for explosives subject to European Directive 2014/28/EU, and this field as experienced some substantial technical innovations. While at the turn of the millenium the concept of electronic detonators had just been conceived, and it is mentioned in a Technical Specification, today electronic detonators exist in many variants, also regarding communication means between shotfirer and the detonating cap. Questions regarding safe functioning and prevention of inadvertent ignition have to be asked in a quite different way, where delicate electronic circuits are used, and where information is transmitted by radio waves. In addition, the safety of functioning is partly found in software components and the corresponding standards need to be reviewed thoroughly on these grounds.
A different but in recent times more and more popular technology, is the on-site production of explosives, being mostly emulsion explosives, ANFO, or combined products. Also here software in the machinery is starting to play an important role. The on-site produced explosive must fulfil safety requirements and has to be, in addition, quality controlled. This cannot solely be left to the hopefully proper design of the software and machinery, but needs to be made accessible to verification. Since this area seems broader in approach, it is not going to be addressed by a new standard. The state of the art technology shall be described in a Technical Specification with a perspective from requirements of the above mentioned European Directive.
Since the early drafting of the European standards for civil explosives, harmonised under directive 93/15/EEC and 2014/28/EU, blasting technology has developed notably. This is particularly evident for electronic detonators and electronic firing systems, and the EU commission agreed to initiate a standardisation initiative, also noting that the currently existing document on electronic detonators is “only” a Technical Specification (CEN/TS). This paper addresses the current activities in the area of standardisation. The EU is about to launch a formal standardisation request to cover the most recent technological developments not addressed by the current standards. The request would also include various adjustments of references to the new Directive for civil explosives, and in addition the task of developing a Technical Specification for on-site mixed explosives and corresponding manufacturing units. The latter has been included to address the nowadays frequently found mobile production on the basis of ammonium nitrate prills or emulsions.
During a European convention of the authorities for market surveillance (AdCO) for explosives the activities of the notified bodies are presented, putting a focus on matters concerning market surveillance.
The presentation outlined in detail, which verifications are possible
with explosives, while practical tests involving initiation of
explosives are excluded. Elements of labeling and the conclusions in
view of quality control were explained, and typical failures by
manufacturers to comply were orally described.
Permitted explosives have a tradition of many decades in Germany and had been designed to the needs of the underground coal mining in the Ruhr. In neighboring countries of Germany similar provisions were made to prevent hazards from fire damp and coal dust explosions in underground coal mines. Due to the termination of coal mining in Germany and most other European countries, also the testing facilities are disappearing. This presentation outlines the current situation of testing regimes and facilities.
Testing of the impact sensitivity of explosives is one of the essential characterisation steps in a safety study. Threshold levels have been agreed from experience for certain processing steps and in relation to handling instructions. However, how reliable is the information, that an explosive has an impact sensitivity of X Joule? This will partly depend on the judgement of the test operator, but also on the statistical method, and on the energetic parameters of the test apparatus. This work focuses on the mechanical performance of the BAM-Fallhammer and how much of the initially available potential energy is transferred to the sample. The differences to the nominal value can be quite large under some conditions. Therefore the energy loss has to be characterised and should possibly be taken into account. In addition an attempt is made, to make results more comparable when the amount of energy loss has been determined by a method shown in the presentation.
Examinations of the mechanical properties of the BAM drop hammer and the BAM friction test were done recently. In order to validate the correct functioning of both tests, usually Round-Robin tests are done with selected test substances. A relatively large spread of the results including some outliers is usually accepted and attributed to the nature of the tests. The author asked, however, in how much the mere mechanical properties could already differ between different institutes, even when no substance is involved (dry runs). A thorough inter-laboratory study was done for the drop test, and results for the friction test are on its way. The current state of these investigations will be presented.
Controlling the hazards in explosives manufacture has been addressed ever since such substances have entered industrial processing. The rigour of exercising such control appears to vary in different fields of application (fireworks versus blasting explosives) and in different countries worldwide. Nonetheless, each tradition has developed a set of standard tests addressing sensitivity and other aspects of behaviour of explosives. With a full system of workers protection in place in most countries nowadays, the control of hazards in explosives manufacture has become much more formalised. The paper aims to show the common parts of process hazard analysis and the consequential steps involving either a risk based approach or a prescriptive approach. The paper aims to stimulate discussions about recent developments.
This presentation shall outline the regulatory tools for explosives manufacture in force in Germany and emphasize the benefits of a codified approach. Those in the need of applying safety measures find a given set of prescriptions, which do not need to be determined through a case by case study. While a process hazard analysis is usually required, it is not necessary to perform a risk analysis.
The system is likely to be more conservative than others, because it generalizes the application cases and needs to be valid for all variations within the description. It is also conservative in that respect that, from learning from previous accidents, for each case a conclusion improving safety entered the code. The more recent history of events shows that the system provides excellent protection of workers in this field. In addition it gives all operators a safe backup for their activity, since following the code generates the "presumption of conformity" and makes juridical judgement more straight forward.