Maine Drilling & Blasting

Incident Narrative

Two employees were cleaning up debris from around explosive storage magazines. They loaded wooden pallets, cardboard boxes, a ripped bag of ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (ANFO), and a hardened bag of ANFO into a box truck. They drove to the fire pit located in the parking lot and offloaded the debris and both ANFO bags into the fire pit. The fire was then lit. An explosion occurred, and the blast sent shrapnel outwards. Employee 1 was knocked down by the blast and suffered a puncture to the neck from a stone. Employee 2 was also knocked down. Employees in the nearby office trailer were knocked out of their chairs and some were thrown across the room. All employees suffered from temporary hearing loss and concussion symptoms. One employee was hospitalized and four others were injured but not hospitalized.