This provision generally forbids using sand or other free-silica material as an abrasive in blasting in industrial undertakings, unless a written certificate permits it.
Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Blasting by Abrasives) Special Regulations(Cap. 59, section 7(2) & (5)) [28 February 1969](Format changes—E.R. 1 of 2021) 1. Citation These regulations may be cited as the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Blasting by Abrasives) Special Regulations. 2. Interpretation In these regulations blasting process (噴砂工序) means the cleaning, smoothing, roughening or removing of part of the surface of any substance or thing including granite, stone or brick by the use as an abrasive of a jet of sand, metal shot or grit or other material propelled by a blast of compressed air or steam or water or by a wheel. 3. Restriction on use of sand or free silica as an abrasive in a blasting process (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall, in any industrial undertaking, use sand or other material containing free silica as an abrasive in any blasting process. (L.N. 158 of 1978)(2) If the Commissioner for Labour, or any officer authorized in writing by him, is satisfied that in any industrial undertaking the use of sand or any other material containing free silica as an abrasive in a blasting process (other than a process incidental or supplemental to the making of metal castings) is necessary in any particular case, he may by certificate in writing (which he may in his discretion revoke at any time) permit the use of the sand or other material containing free silica in that blasting process subject to the following conditions—(a) that there shall be provided and maintained for the use of every person who is employed in that blasting process a protective helmet of a type approved in writing by the Commissioner or by any officer authorized in writing by the Commissioner for Labour designed to enclose the head, face and neck of such person and every such person shall wear the helmet provided for his use whilst he is employed in that blasting process; and(b) that every person employed in that blasting process shall, whilst so employed, be supplied with clean fresh air at a rate of not less than 170 litres per minute from a source removed from that blasting process, (L.N. 238 of 1984; L.N. 307 of 1998)and such other conditions as the Commissioner for Labour, or any officer authorized in writing by him, may in his discretion specify in the certificate.(3) Any person who uses sand or any other material containing free silica as an abrasive in a blasting process in contravention of paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence. (L.N. 315 of 1981)(4) A person who is convicted of an offence under paragraph (3) is liable to—(a) if the person is a proprietor—a fine at level 6; or(b) in any other case—a fine at level 5. (5 of 2023 s. 21)