Glossary
Blaster Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential blaster terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key blaster vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in blaster training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Airblast
- Air pressure from blasting.
- All clear
- Safe after blast.
- ATF
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
- Blast log
- Record of a blast.
- Burden
- Distance to free face.
- Delay
- Timing between holes.
- Flyrock
- Thrown rock.
- Guard
- Person blocking access.
- Initiation system
- Detonator setup.
- Magazine
- Explosives storage.
- Misfire
- Charge that didn’t go off.
- Powder factor
- Explosive per rock volume.
- Seismograph
- Measures vibration.
- Spacing
- Distance between holes.
- Stemming
- Inert material atop charges.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Blaster practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Blaster training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.