Explosives Handling SWMS (ANFO / Emulsion)

Receiving, storing, transporting and loading commercial explosives — bulk ANFO, emulsion, electric and non-electric detonators, cast boosters and primers — is among the highest-consequence work performed on Australian mine sites, quarries and civil blasting projects. A single deviation from established loading sequence, magazine separation distance or stray-current control can initiate the charge prematurely, killing the shotfiring crew and anyone inside the exclusion zone. WHS Regulation 2025 Part 3.1 requires the PCBU to identify reasonably foreseeable hazards and implement controls under the hierarchy, while AS 2187.2:2006 mandates licensed shotfirer supervision, segregated magazines, and documented loading procedures. State Dangerous Goods legislation independently requires a shotfirer's licence and approved explosives driver. Because the work is section 291 category High Risk Construction Work, a SWMS must be prepared, signed by every worker handling product, retained for the statutory period, and reviewed before each blast. This document provides the prescribed controls and worker sign-on register required to lawfully commence charging.

Hazards identified

7 hazards covered, sorted by priority.

Control measures

Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.

1. 1Elimination — Eliminate electric detonators entirely by specifying non-electric shock-tube or electronic detonator systems on sites with HV powerlines, mobile plant radios, or cathodic protection within 200 m.
2. 2Elimination — Prohibit any person inside the calculated exclusion zone during charging; clear the bench using positive head-count and lockable boom gates before any primer enters a hole.
3. 3Substitution — Substitute bulk emulsion for ANFO in wet holes and where static-sensitive ground conditions exist, reducing pneumatic loading static risk per AS 2187.2 cl 9.
4. 4Substitution — Replace cast booster manual placement with mechanically assisted loading rigs on holes deeper than 6 m to remove edge-of-bench manual handling exposure.
5. 5Engineering — Provide segregated, earthed, ventilated magazines for detonators and bulk explosive at the separation distances tabulated in AS 2187.1, with intrusion alarm and licensed access register.
6. 6Engineering — Bond and earth all pneumatic loading hoses, charging trucks, and shot-hole collars; verify continuity with a calibrated resistance meter before each shift.
7. 7Administrative — Only licensed shotfirers (holding current state Dangerous Goods authority) direct charging, witness primer assembly, and authorise the firing sequence; record names on the SWMS sign-on register.
8. 8Administrative — Enforce radio silence, mobile phone shutdown and HV line de-energisation within the prescribed clearance distance from the charged pattern from primer entry until tie-in completion.
9. 9Administrative — Apply the 30-minute minimum re-entry waiting period after misfires and post-blast fume dispersal; verify atmosphere with gas monitor before any worker approaches the face.
10. 10PPE — Issue anti-static cotton coveralls, conductive safety footwear, hearing protection rated SLC80 ≥26 dB, impact eyewear and hard hat to all personnel handling product on the bench.

Applicable Codes of Practice

High-Risk Construction Work triggered

Worked example

At a regional hard-rock quarry preparing a 42-hole production blast on a 12 m bench, the shift supervisor opens the pre-start brief by tabling this SWMS on the crib-room bench. The licensed shotfirer walks the four-person loading crew and the charge truck operator through each hazard line. When the crew identifies that a contractor's UHF repeater tower sits 180 m from the pattern, the SWMS control requiring radio silence and mobile shutdown within clearance distance is applied — the supervisor radios the office to enforce silence and posts a spotter at the access road. The static-control entry prompts the truck operator to bond the loading hose to the collar casing and verify earthing with the resistance meter before any ANFO flows; the reading is logged on the back of the SWMS. Every worker signs the sign-on register, including the powder monkey assisting with primer assembly. During loading, hole 27 returns wet ground conditions, so the shotfirer invokes the substitution control and switches that hole to emulsion, annotating the change on the SWMS as a recorded amendment. Once tie-in is complete, the exclusion zone is swept, boom gates locked, and the firing sequence initiated. After the blast, the 30-minute re-entry control is enforced, fume readings taken, and the signed SWMS filed for the statutory retention period.

Related legislation

• WHS Act 2011 (model)
• WHS Regulation 2025
• Code of Practice — Hazardous Manual Tasks

Frequently asked questions