Italian regulations on Explosives Use and Marketing: an Undergoing Evolution

The paper reviews the legislative activity presently under way in Italy, in order to comply with the EC recommendations and guidelines on the subject of the explosives use in civil and mining applications and of the explosives marketing. The following points are dealt with in particular: a critical comment to the safety and environment protections regulations concerning explosives use; the problems posed by the lack of flexibility of the regulation system; practical aspects not adequately considered by the regulations; amongst them, the explosives transportation in the working sites, the explosives bulk charging practices, the qualification of the explosives operator and the checks needed to ascertain their technical skill. In the concluding remarks the actual status of Italy and the Countries are compared, on the basis of regulation system coverage with special reference to the safety problems.