PECCS – Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers/Blast designers

By European Federation of Explosive Engineers

Teele Tuuna, Project Technician, Voglers Eesti OÜ

Abstract

Blasting operations are a strong and important part in any kind of building and mining industry, a shot-
firer profession is one of the oldest professions in the civilized world. It still serves an important and
ongoing purpose in the modern economy all over the world.

Europe, nowadays, values strongly the mobility of workers, the movement of know-how and labor force
between different countries inside Europe. There are no borders for most of the everyday professions.

Blasting work, however, is still a national task in most countries. In a Pan-European perspective the
technical skills and available training means for workers and related staff handling civil explosives for use
in blasting operations varies from well satisfying to non-existent training. Most countries have developed
their own training courses, fitted to their local regulations or in some countries there is no possibility to
acquire any training nor the certification for the profession. The main hindrance to crossing the borders
with competent blasting labor force is still the national certification system for shot-firers and blast
designers.

As these problems are familiar not only to Europe but also to the US, we would like to bring you an
European experience, as one possibility to find a way through this.

So in order to tackle these problems, the European Federation of Explosives Engineers (EFEE) has taken
some steps to influence the situation in Europe. EFEE is strongly involved in current discussions
concerning the European Union working standards. The idea is to create a unified training system which
would certify a person’s good technical competences and then use this certification in different countries.
It would enable this category of professional shot-firers and blast designers to apply for jobs outside of
their own countries without time-consuming delays in obtaining appropriate permits.

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 1 of 8
History of the project
In EFEE, the systematic work for harmonization of required skills and certification of shot firers and blast
designers started in 1995. During a period of some 5 years the member societies developed a complete set
of required theoretical and practical training issues for certification. From 2000 onwards EFEE issued an
EFEE Shot-firer Certificate to applicants holding a first-class national certificate. Since the beginning,
EFEE has continuously reviewed the education system in the 25 EFEE member countries concluding that
improvements would be appreciated.

Due to the EFEE plans to develop a new certification system, the issuing of the above mentioned EFEE
Shot firer Certificate has been temporarily suspended.

It was decided to work for a Pan-European certification system on level 4 and/or 5 according to the
European Qualification Framework. Eleven partners representing EFEE member societies from the Czech
Republic, Finland, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and United Kingdom prepared a grant
application for financial support under the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme. The application was
submitted by the acting contractor NFF- Norwegian Tunneling Association to the Centre for International
Education in Bergen, Norway. Support was granted with a project period from 15. November 2008 to 14.
November 2010, the project was called ESSEEM – European Shot-firer Standard Education for Enhanced
Mobility. The output established a comprehensive platform for further work (fig.1).

Fig. 1. An extraction from the original ESSEEM materials

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 2 of 8
During the period of 2012-2013 a sub-group of EFEE members, financially supported by the NFF, made
a “third party review” of the ESSEEM output and suggested some modifications.

By the latter part of 2013 with financial support from EFEE, a new project group was established for a
second ESSEEM-type project named PECCS. The main objective was to prepare a training course fitting
the agreed requirements while using the ESSEEM project output with agreed modifications, and also to
implement the new certification system. The Grant applications were submitted in 2014 and also the
following year by Estonian contractor Voglers and in 2016 a grant was given by the European
Commission.

Cooperation is the key

The only way to do something that is universal to use in many countries, by many people with different
cultural background, is to do it together with those different people from different countries. In order to
reach out as far as possible, it is necessary to include countries which are further from the center. Keeping
these ideas in mind, the project started with looking for people, partners who would be willing to give
their input and share the idea. All together 8 different countries from Europe are represented - United
Kingdom, Romania, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Estonia.

The partners cooperating in this project are all directly connected to the existing problem of the shot-firer
and blast designer profession and the mobility of workers in the EU through their area of expertise and
everyday work. The partnership was established through several meetings and also through a workshop
in Zandwoort, Netherlands in April 2013. All the partners are members of EFEE. There are educational
entities, private companies and a national association (Fig 3. and Fig. 4.).

Fig. 2. The project partner countries - maximum reach over Europe

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 3 of 8
 Fig. 3. Partners collaborating on PECCS project, from the left: Anette Broman,
Jan Johansson, Anne Charline Sauvage, Doru Anghelache, Teele Tuuna, Nigel Taylor,
Viive Tuuna, Fredrik Viking, Jose Carlos Gois, Jörg Rennert, Karl Kure

Fig. 4. The partner organizations cooperating in PECCS project

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 4 of 8
As the first project on this matter was about collecting the material, the know-how and input, then now is
the time to put it all together as a comprehensive and professional set of materials and a course. The
partners, participants of EFEE Shot-firer Committee and the project coordinator worked out the most
suitable solution to prepare the materials into trainings in two years. They decided to divide the materials
into chapters and the chapters between the partners according to their background and best knowledge.

There are already 6 chapters from previous work and Tunneling will be added within this project. Each
partner will create exam questions, interactive learning methods and exercises for each chapter.

The chapters are:

Geology / Rock Type
Explosives
Blasting Theory
Initiation systems
Blasting close to structures
Drilling and Machinery
Tunneling

As the projects have all been funded by the European Commission, the materials, composed by different
specialists in Europe, are available for everyone to use on the project web page www.shotfirer.eu/peccs-
by-efee and while the project is ongoing, all professionals and specialists are invited to look at the
materials and give feedback as they see necessary.

So how do we do this

The first steps are to modernize the materials, check that all data is correct and updated and as mentioned
already, the materials need another chapter, Tunneling, as well as exercises and exam questions. The
project web page www.shotfirer.eu will be constantly updated with news and information and the project
will be disseminated in various seminars and conferences. All that work has been done during 2016 and
2017.

The following steps are about creating the course. In order to make it as good as possible, the project
partners start with test courses, which would also stand as a possibility to train future teachers for the real
courses. There will be three test courses during the PECCS project. First in Stockholm, Sweden then
Germany and finally France. The test courses will not be exactly the same each time, rather designed for
different purposes. Through these courses we will collect feedback from participants, who represent both
the teachers and also the trainees. With the feedback we will enhance the courses, make changes if
necessary and move forward with finalizing the materials. The third test course is for evaluation. All
authorities and specialists connected to the area of expertise are invited to participate, get familiar with
the project and the course itself and evaluate it, so that we can move closer to having a unified Pan-
European Certification System. During the test courses, an online learning tool will be created according
to the existing materials in order to reach out to as many people as possible all over the world. This work
will take place in 2017 and 2018.

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 5 of 8
The finalizing steps are made to guarantee the quality of the course and work towards the acceptance of
the Pan-European certification system. There will be a Multiplier event in 2018, a seminar in the UK to
meet with authorities and evaluators and other international meetings. Some of the coauthors of the
materials will create a Guidebook for the future teachers to maintain the necessary quality of the course.
All this on the last year of the project, 2019.

Conclusion and Future Work

As the materials for the courses are put together by experienced specialists from many parts of Europe,
concerning differences among the countries, it carries the information and values needed in the whole EU
and Europe, so that the training system could be acceptable in every country as certification of good
knowledge and experience in this field of work. This could lead to better mobility of workers, fewer
problems for companies who are short of staff and an enhanced qualification system, providing more
safety at work and better progress in the industry.

Our aim is not to change any regulations in any of the European countries, but to create a possibility of
proving real and good competencies in this profession. This will, to a high degree, increase the overall
safety when handling explosives for blasting operations.

Besides proving real and good competences, this project could provide educational means to countries
with need. If there is a modern and updated educational means and therefore a possibility to learn to
become a blaster, there would also be more interest among the youngsters.

EFEE would very much appreciate all support and recognition from the authorities, experienced
specialists and recognized workers for this project to have success and solve these problems, as it is good
influence for every country and all companies in this industry.

After the end of the project, all created materials will be maintained and kept available by EFEE.

Fig. 5. PECCS project logos

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 6 of 8
Acknowledgements

We are very thankful for all the partners collaborating in this project, who have already done a vast amount
of work, sometimes without sufficient pay. Also we are thankful for the members of the Shot-firer
Committee in EFEE, with whose support we could create this project.

Special thanks to Karl Kure and Jan Johansson, who has been a part of this movement since the very
beginning and Jörg Rennert for his help with unforeseen tasks.

Anyone interested in this project in more detail is welcome to contact the management on
info@shotfirer.eu

Fig. 6. PECCS project management from the left:

Viive Tuuna and Anette Broman

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 7 of 8
References

The project is funded by European Commission, under the Erasmus+ KA2 program

Project Reference: 2016-1-SE01-KA202-022057

Link to the project introduction on the European Commission site: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-

plus/projects/eplus-project-details-page/?nodeRef=workspace://SpacesStore/9e5b7a4b-b5ce-4466-8a33-
3f0f287c4975

Copyright © 2018 International Society of Explosives Engineers

2018G - PECCS - Pan-European Competence Certificate for Shot-firers / Blast Designers 8 of 8