Seabee Quarry Blasting Operations and Safety Manual

PURPOSE
This manual is a guide for engineer personnel responsible for planning, designing, and
conducting blasting operations in pits and quarries. This manual should be used in
conjunction with current Army blasting doctrine. Although this manual focuses on
techniques and procedures used in Navy blasting, it mirrors standards that have been
adopted by and used in the civilian blasting sector.

SCOPE AND APPLICABILITY
Engineer personnel assigned to blasting and quarry teams must have a basic understanding
of blasting operations in pits and quarries to successfully operate a quarry while effectively
producing crushed rock. Quarrying specialists enhance their skills primarily from experience
in problem solving, overcoming obstacles in the field, and learning from failures. Using this
manual, information and guidance established in current Army doctrine, and blasting
guidance set forth in Field Manual (FM) 5-250, the quarrying specialist or foreman will
perform more efficiently, effectively, and safely in the field. This manual mentions explosive
agents that are not currently available through standard Army procurement. It is
fundamentally important for a quarrying foreman to consider all resources available in the
Department of Defense (DOD) and the civilian sector. It may be necessary to use
nonstandard agents in a contingency environment when nothing else is available. However,
until other blasting agents are approved for Army use in quarry operations, each user must
request and obtain a waiver, through proper military channels, to use anything other than
military-grade dynamite.