Safety and safety planning - Tunnel Engineering: Basics and Additional Services for Design and Construction - page 310

This classification of substances and articles is undertaken through practical tests accord-
ing to the UN testing handbook.
Compatibility. Explosives are also classified into compatibility groups. Compatibility group B
normally denotes primary explosive detonators, group D black powder, brisant explosives and
detonating cord, and group S includes non-explosive electrical detonators and fuse igniters.
Substances in compatibility group D must never be loaded together with substances in
compatibility group D.
Classification. The combination of sub-class and compatibility group is described as the
classification code.
Some examples of classification:
All brisant explosives have the classification code 1.1.D, Emulsion blasting agents and
ANFO explosives can also be included in 1.5.D.
Detonating cords are classified in 1.1.D or also 1.4.D, blasting caps, detonators and delay
connectors are classified in 1.1.B or, if they are not mass-explosive, 1.4.B.
Labelling. The transport package must be labelled with the UN number (from the UN rec-
ommendations), the name of the substance (emphasised in italics) according to the ADR,
the trade name of the explosives and the hazard label, with the classification code being
found on the hazard label.
The hazard label is an orange diamond shape with a black border, which shows:
- For sub-classes 1.1., 1.2., 1.3., the upper half shows a bomb, the lower half the clas-
sification code and in the bottom corner is a small number 1.
- For the other sub-classes, the upper half shows the sub-class, the lower half the compat-
ibility group and the bottom corner shows a small number 1.
8.4.2 Storage on the site
Since considerable quantities of explosives every day in drill and blast tunnelling, setting
up of a magazine to store the explosives on site is normally essential.
Magazines can be above ground or below ground.
Health risks. The health risks from the storage of explosives are normally confined to
gelatin explosives .
In case of fire, it should be borne in mind that explosives burn with the formation of par-
ticularly poisonous fumes.
Accident risks. Due to the good handling safety of the explosives used in tunnelling,
unintended detonation due to external effects is indeed unlikely but can naturally not be
ruled out absolutely.
Explosive detonators are much more dangerous, as these contain highly brisant primary
explosives, which can be detonated by a flame or an impact.
In case of fire, it must be borne in mind that the stored explosives will indeed first burn,
but that the burning could in a catastrophe result in a detonation.