Explosives Hazard Classes
Explosives Hazard Classes : The level of protection required for any specific explosives activity, based on the hazard class (accident potential) for the explosives activity involved. Four hazard classes are defined for explosives activities as follows in definitions for explosives hazard classes I-IV. Explosives Hazard, Class I: Explosives activities that involve a high accident potential; any personnel exposure is unacceptable for Class I activities and they thus require remote operations. In general, Class I would include activities where energies that may interface with the explosives are approaching the upper safety limits, or the loss of control of the interfacing energy is likely to exceed the safety limits for the explosives involved. This category includes those research and development activities where the safety implications have not been fully characterized. Examples of Class I activities are screening, blending, pressing, extrusion, drilling of holes, dry machining, machining explosives and metal in combination, some environmental testing, new explosives development and processes, explosives disposal, and destructive testing. Explosive Hazard, Class II: Explosives activities that involve a moderate accident potential because of the explosives type, the condition of the explosives, or the nature of the operations involved. This category consists of activities where the accident potential is greater than for Class III, but the exposure of personnel performing contact operations is acceptable. Class II includes activities where the energies that do or may interface with the explosives are normally well within the safety boundaries for the explosives involved, but where the loss of control or these energies might approach the safety limits of the explosives. Examples of Class II activities are weighing, some wet machining, assembly and disassembly, some environmental testing, and some packaging operations. Explosives Hazard, Class III: Explosives activities that represent a low accident potential. Class III includes explosives activities during storage and operations incidental to storage or removal from storage. Explosives Hazard, Class IV: Explosives activities with insensitive high explosives (IHE) or IHE subassemblies. Although mass detonating, this explosive type is so insensitive that a negligible probability exists for accidental initiation or transition from burning to detonation. IHE explosions will be limited to pressure ruptures of containers heated in a fire. Most processing and storage activities with IHE and IHE subassemblies are Class IV. However, the following examples of explosives activities with IHE and IHE subassemblies will remain Class I: pressing; some machining; dry blending; dry milling; and dry screening
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