(1) No person shall detonate explosives in any blasting operation in which more than five (5) pounds of explosives or the equivalent are used in a single charge or in which less than five (5) pounds of explosives are used by a regular user, excluding blasting for agriculture and underground coal, unless he is licensed by the department. The department shall issue a license to use explosives to any person who:
(a) Has worked in blasting operations for at least twenty-four (24) months under the immediate supervision of an experienced blaster or has worked in blasting operations for twelve (12) months and has completed a formal training program approved by the department; and
(b) Has passed an examination prescribed by the department which shall test the examinee’s practice of blasting operations and the storage, moving, handling, and detonation of explosives.
(2) Application for license shall be in writing upon a form furnished by the department and shall be accompanied by a photograph of the applicant. If the applicant is successful in passing the examination, a license indicating his competency to detonate explosives shall be issued upon the payment of a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25).
(3) Any person who is a licensed blaster in another state where the qualifications prescribed at the time of licensing were, in the opinion of the commissioner, equal to those prescribed in the Commonwealth at the date of application, and where reciprocal licensing privileges satisfactory to the department are granted to licensees of the Commonwealth, may be granted a license without an examination, upon the payment of a fee.
(4) Each blaster shall be required to renew his license every three (3) years by application to the department, which application shall be accompanied by a fee and subject to the following training requirements:
(a) Each applicant for renewal of a Kentucky blaster’s license shall furnish proof that during the preceding three (3) years, the blaster annually has attended a minimum of eight (8) hours of department-approved blaster’s training. No more than four (4) hours of the annual blaster training may be attributed to attending a conference unless otherwise approved by the department; and
(b) Each applicant for renewal of a limited Kentucky blaster’s license shall furnish proof that during the preceding three (3) years, the blaster has attended a minimum of four (4) hours of blaster’s training approved by the department.
(5) The department shall not issue a blaster’s license to any person not entitled to transport or receive explosives under existing federal law, including persons who:
(a) Are less than twenty-one (21) years of age; or
(b) Have been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one (1) year, unless the conviction has been specifically exempted by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms or its successor.
(6) All fees provided in this section shall be set by the department by administrative regulation; however, the fee for an application shall not exceed forty dollars ($40), the fee for license renewal shall not exceed sixty dollars ($60), and the fee for reciprocal licensing shall not exceed sixty dollars ($60).
(7) The commissioner may suspend any license for due cause, but no license may be revoked until the licensee has been granted adequate opportunity for a hearing before the cabinet’s Office of Administrative Hearings.
Effective: July 14, 2018
History: Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 85, sec. 11, effective July 14, 2018. — Amended
2010 Ky. Acts ch. 94, sec. 3, effective July 15, 2010. — Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch.
25, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2006. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 67, sec. 1, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 150, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1996; and ch. 318, sec. 332, effective July 15, 1996. — Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 240, sec. 1, effective June 17, 1978. — Created 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 143, sec. 2.