Blasting mat

[3] The amount of fly rock can be reduced by proper drilling in the bedrock for the explosives, but in practice it is hard to avoid.

[10] Both mats and blankets are designed to let air and gasses from the explosion pass through the cover and retain fragments.

[9] Knowledge of the proper use of blasting mats is required in order to obtain a blaster's certificate issued by organizations such as the WorkSafeBC.

[14][15][16] Blasting mats made from rope woven on wires were first used during the construction of the IRT Third Avenue Line in New York City in the early 1900s.

[20] When charges are used to dig foxholes, an improvised blasting mat made from whole tires tied together with rope to reduce noise and fly rock, is recommended in the A Soldiers Handbook (United States).

[22] Such an incident occurred in August 2015, in Cape Ray, Newfoundland and Labrador when a 7 kg (15 lb) fly rock travelled about 250 m (820 ft) from the blast site and crashed through the kitchen ceiling of a nearby house.

[1] Although designed to prevent accidents, as blasting mats weigh between 3,000 and 6,000 lb (1,400 and 2,700 kg), they have also caused injuries when falling on workers on construction sites.

Tire blasting mats at a quarry