Safety Benefits
The BlastPED was developed in conjunction with mine operators, in particular Mt Isa Mines and Olympic Dam Mine. The development and trials at these mines refined the BlastPED in two key areas, functional specification and safety.
In respect of safety the BlastPED system offers:
- Compliance with Australian Standard 2187.2-1993 as meeting the standards required by an exploder.
- Based on this compliance, its security of operation, and the results of rigorous HazOp studies it has received approval and recognition for use by the WA, NSW, Qld, SA and VIC state mining departments, as well as approval for use in Canada.
The confidence in operation and security is based on the unique operating frequency and coding techniques of the PED system. Key features in relation to PED, which add to the basic benefits or standards above, are:
- Sophisticated encoding and decoding techniques in the PED signalling system which ensures absolute integrity of the signal.
- Security is further increased by the requirement for two separate messages to be transmitted before a blast can be initiated. That is, a valid "ARM" command must be received and then (within ten minutes or the system resets) a valid "BLAST" command must be received for power to be applied to the detonator circuit.
- Additionally, the valid ARM and BLAST commands are not contained on the PC's hard disk. Valid commands are read off a specially coded floppy disk, which is kept in a secure location and is only accessed by an authorised person.
The safe use of BlastPED requires operational procedures to be put in place by the mine. These are not dissimilar to those used for mains firing systems. Key procedural aspects include:
- Only authorised personnel use the system.
- All aspects of the system's use is understood by those involved in its operation, from installing the BlastPED at a face, typing in the commands at the PC, to the recovery of the BlastPED receiver.
- A system to confirm that all personnel have withdrawn to a safe area before blasting is in place.