Explosives Worker / Ordnance Handling Expert / Blaster

Place and detonate explosives to demolish structures or to loosen, remove, or displace earth, rock, or other materials. May perform specialized handling, storage, and accounting procedures.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Blast Hole Driller; Blaster; Explosive Technician; Powderman; Unexploded Ordnance Quality Control Officer

Tasks

• Examine blast areas to determine amounts and kinds of explosive charges needed and to ensure that safety laws are observed.
• Tie specified lengths of delaying fuses into patterns in order to time sequences of explosions.
• Place safety cones around blast areas to alert other workers of danger zones, and signal workers as necessary to ensure that they clear blast sites prior to explosions.
• Place explosive charges in holes or other spots; then detonate explosives to demolish structures or to loosen, remove, or displace earth, rock, or other materials.
• Insert, pack, and pour explosives, such as dynamite, ammonium nitrate, black powder, or slurries into blast holes; then shovel drill cuttings, admit water into boreholes, and tamp material to compact charges.
• Mark patterns, locations, and depths of charge holes for drilling, and issue drilling instructions.
• Compile and keep gun and explosives records in compliance with local and federal laws.
• Measure depths of drilled blast holes, using weighted tape measures.
• Connect electrical wire to primers, and cover charges or fill blast holes with clay, drill chips, sand, or other material.
• Lay primacord between rows of charged blast holes, and tie cord into main lines to form blast patterns.
• Assemble and position equipment, explosives, and blasting caps in holes at specified depths, or load perforating guns or torpedoes with explosives.
• Verify detonation of charges by observing control panels, or by listening for the sounds of blasts.
• Move and store inventories of explosives, loaded perforating guns, and other materials, according to established safety procedures.
• Light fuses, drop detonating devices into wells or boreholes, or activate firing devices with plungers, dials, or buttons, in order to set off single or multiple blasts.
• Drive trucks to transport explosives and blasting equipment to blasting sites.

Knowledge

• Public Safety and Security
• Law and Government
• Mathematics
• Engineering and Technology
• Administration and Management
• Customer and Personal Service
• Transportation
• English Language
• Production and Processing
• Mechanical

Skills

• Active Listening
• Monitoring
• Critical Thinking
• Speaking
• Reading Comprehension
• Active Learning
• Learning Strategies

Abilities

• Problem Sensitivity
• Manual Dexterity
• Near Vision
• Oral Comprehension
• Deductive Reasoning
• Inductive Reasoning
• Information Ordering
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Oral Expression
• Finger Dexterity
• Multilimb Coordination
• Reaction Time
• Control Precision
• Visual Color Discrimination
• Selective Attention
• Depth Perception
• Category Flexibility
• Flexibility of Closure
• Perceptual Speed
• Speech Clarity
• Visualization
• Far Vision
• Speech Recognition
• Written Comprehension
• Time Sharing
• Static Strength
• Trunk Strength
• Extent Flexibility
• Hearing Sensitivity