---
kind: "section"
citation: "30 C.F.R. § 75.1318"
title: "30"
number: "75.1318"
heading: "Loading boreholes."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/30/75.1318"
---

# §75.1318. Loading boreholes.

- (a) Explosives shall be loaded by a qualified person or a person working in the presence of and under the direction of a qualified person.
- (b) When boreholes are being loaded, no other work except that necessary to protect persons shall be done in the working place or other area where blasting is to be performed.
- (c) When loading boreholes drilled at an angle of 45 degrees or greater from the horizontal in solid rock or loading long holes drilled upward in anthracite mines—
  - (1) The first cartridge in each borehole shall be the primer cartridge with the end of the cartridge containing the detonator facing the back of the borehole; and
  - (2) The explosive cartridges shall be loaded in a manner that provides contact between each cartridge in the borehole.
- (d) **When loading other boreholes—**
  - (1) The primer cartridge shall be the first cartridge loaded in the borehole;
  - (2) The end of the cartridge in which the detonator is inserted shall face the back of the borehole; and
  - (3) The primer cartridge and other explosives shall be pushed to the back of the borehole in a continuous column with no cartridge being deliberately crushed or deformed.
- (e) An explosive shall not be loaded into a borehole if it is damaged, deteriorated or if the cartridge is incompletely filled.
- (f) Explosives of different brands, types or cartridge diameters shall not be loaded in the same borehole.
- (g) Only nonconductive, nonsparking tamping poles shall be used for loading and tamping boreholes. The use of nonsparking connecting devices for extendable tamping poles is permitted.

## Notes

### Amendments

[53 FR 46786, Nov. 18, 1988; 54 FR 888, Jan. 10, 1989]

### Source

Source: 53 FR 46786, Nov. 18, 1988, unless otherwise noted.

### Authority

Authority: 30 U.S.C. 811, 813(h), 957.

### Source

Source: 35 FR 17890, Nov. 20, 1970, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[53 FR 46786, Nov. 18, 1988; 54 FR 888, Jan. 10, 1989]