While a blast is purely an industrial event, for a neighbour it is a sensory one. When a blast is “safe” and precise technically, it minimizes the three things that keep neighbours up: noise, vibration, and dust. Here’s why a well-executed, safe blast leads to a happier, quieter relationship between site and community:
Controlling the “ground roll” (vibration)
A safe blast is not necessarily a small blast; it is a smarter blast. Blasters use electronic detonators to ensure that the entire charge does not detonate at once. It’s not that there’s enormous reader-dinging, window-shaking, and dishes-rattling boom; rather, it’s a controlled boom, or hum, as it were. The neighbours don’t feel the ‘seismic anxiety.’ They know the ground is not going to shake; thus, they do not worry about the foundations of their properties.
Reducing the “airblast” (noise)
A “misfire” or poorly designed blast often causes a venting effect, where the power shoots out the top of the hole like a cannon. This produces a huge blast, or boom, due to overpressure. The use of proper “stemming” material (packing rocks at the top of the hole) keeps the blast energy inside the rock where it belongs. A good blast is a muffled thud, not a sonic boom that will wake pets, wake babies, or shock locals out of their seats.
Eliminating flyrock
The final degree of safety failure is “flyrock” when rocks shower outside the blast area. In a safe blast, exact calculations are made sure that the burden, or distance between the explosives and the rock face, is sufficiently thick to contain the rocks while retaining a thickness that breaks them. There is no risk at all damaging roads, homes, or hikers. Trust is also provided because the “danger zone” remains purely theoretical.
Dust mitigation
Water sprays or chemical dust suppressants may be part of safe blasting protocols. A controlled blast sends the rock into predictable sizes and does not pulverize it into a fine, wind-borne powder. Neighbours will not have to wash their cars or close their windows every time a blast occurs. Air quality remains high, and the site is seen as a “good neighbor.”
In modern blasting, the goal is invisibility. The highest compliment a community can pay a blasting team is: “I didn’t even realize you guys worked today.”
