Check authorisations and scope
In Spain, the Explosives Regulation, Royal Decree 130/2017, establishes requirements for civil-use explosives and regulated activities. Check the company’s authorisations and the specific conditions for supply, use and storage where applicable.
Documentary compliance is verified before mobilising the work. Authorisation for one activity must not be confused with permission to carry out any other.
Assign professional responsibilities
Technical Instruction 8 of the Regulation explains that a shotfirer’s certificate alone does not permit practising the activity: it must be carried out within an authorised company. Also check that the qualification matches the required role and specialism.
Job-specific preventive training remains required. Supervisors, contractors and support personnel need to know their limits and the channel for reporting an incident.
Integrate the project and assessment
The General Regulation on Basic Mining Safety Rules has its own scope and includes technical obligations, professional technical direction and safety provisions. Its application must be determined according to the activity and corresponding technical instructions.
Assessment includes projected material, vibration, gases, ground stability, nearby installations and third parties. Technical conditions are defined by the competent project or procedure, not a generic rule taken from another site.
Control access and simultaneous operations
Coordination must prevent unauthorised people or vehicles from entering restricted areas. Boundaries and conditions are established through the applicable technical planning, rather than improvised distances.
Agree responsibility for each access point, communications, warnings and confirmation that incompatible activities have stopped. Transport operators, maintenance and visiting companies must also be included in this control.
Define when to suspend and who intervenes
Loss of communication, unexpected entry, a significant environmental change or an abnormality requires applying the suspension procedure and notifying the competent responsible person. Nobody should attempt to resolve an incident outside their duties.
If undetonated material is suspected, restrictions remain and the specialist procedure applies. Approach, handling or resumption is not authorised on the initiative of personnel outside the qualified team.
Authorise return and retain traceability
Return to work requires the prescribed checks and authorisation, including assessment of residual conditions. Hearing the detonation or allowing a certain time to pass does not demonstrate that an area has been released.
Record required incidents, communications and controls. The Occupational Risk Prevention Act adds general information, training and coordination obligations; engaging a specialist company does not replace organisation of the rest of the workplace.
Hypothetical example: a supplier’s access
During a day with scheduled blasting, a supplier arrives through a secondary entrance. Access control identifies that the route would affect a restricted area and stops the delivery.
The responsible person coordinates a new access window after formal release. The example illustrates organisational control without setting technical execution parameters.
