A Look at Explosive Laws and Blasting Regulations

Historically, laws controlling the manufacture, sale, transportation and storage of high explosives and regulations governing the use of explosives were formulated to prevent accidents or eliminate incidents that might jeopardize public safety. Many of the original laws and regulations regarding classification of explosives and blasting materials, tables of distances for separation and/or isolation of explosives, construction of storage magazines and methods of blasting were based upon empirical data, field experiments or scientific facts. During the past few years, however, it appears that some of the explosive laws and blasting regulations introduced and/or enacted by federal, state and local agencies seem to be based more on political expediency than on factual information or technical data.