00:00:01 Well that's the way we professionals use commercial explosives.

00:00:05 Occasionally, blasting caps do get lost, they stray, or they get stolen.

00:00:10 And that can create situations like the one I'm asking you to watch right now.

00:00:14 Then you'll understand why we pros are really concerned when explosives get into the hands of amateurs.

00:00:25 Ryder, this is the Sherman Blasting Company dispatcher. Do you read me?

00:00:29 Go ahead, this is Ryder.

00:00:30 That call about some kids finding a possible blasting cap is confirmed.

00:00:34 Proceed to Maplewood Lane, blast house. Name on the mailbox is Colton.

00:00:40 Notify us as to what you find.

00:00:42 Will do.

00:00:43 No, Ed, I'm not going to let you go in there.

00:01:00 Bug off, will you? I am.

00:01:02 You can't go in there. It's too dangerous and risky.

00:01:04 You're imagining things, Rod. That thing I found. Some kind of gadget to hook up to something.

00:01:08 No, it's not. If it's a blasting cap, it is dangerous. Don't you remember the poster at school?

00:01:12 Yeah, well, let's wait. You may be right.

00:01:14 I didn't see any posters in school.

00:01:16 You were probably absent.

00:01:17 Do you remember any posters, Jeff?

00:01:19 Well, no, I miss a lot that goes on in class.

00:01:22 No, it's mine. I know how to work it.

00:01:23 You can't go in there.

00:01:24 Tell me about it.

00:01:27 You think you're smart, don't you?

00:01:29 No, but I remember what the poster said.

00:01:31 Do you want your hand blown off?

00:01:33 Okay.

00:01:34 I'll give you the key.

00:01:35 Hey, stop. Come on. You're making a ruckus.

00:01:45 Okay, fellas. Who phoned the police?

00:01:47 He did. He's weird. He reads too much and has a crazy imagination.

00:01:51 Where's this device you thought might be a blasting cap?

00:01:53 It's in here.

00:02:01 Where's the key?

00:02:06 Stay back, fellas.

00:02:14 Was I right?

00:02:15 Yes, it's a blasting cap, an electrical one.

00:02:23 What are you going to do?

00:02:24 Well, I'm going to put it in this box where it can't hurt anyone if it does go off.

00:02:28 But what about you?

00:02:29 Oh, don't worry about me. I've been trained to handle explosives.

00:02:32 That's why the police called me after you called them.

00:02:35 Now, gangway, fellas.

00:02:38 Hey, what's going on?

00:02:40 Well...

00:02:41 Okay, okay.

00:02:43 I didn't see that warning poster, but neither did Jeff.

00:02:46 Yeah, well, I miss a lot that goes on in school.

00:03:25 All right. Look out, fellas. Please.

00:03:27 I think that did it.

00:03:31 Hey, cool. Just like on TV.

00:03:33 Hey, there's some more here.

00:03:34 Oh, relax, son. Those are just dummy blasting capsules.

00:03:37 They don't have any explosive charge. We use them for safety education.

00:03:41 See, I work for a company that makes blasting capsules.

00:03:43 Hey, they look just like the ones I found, except they don't look dangerous.

00:03:47 Well, if you want to see just how dangerous they are,

00:03:49 do me a favor and take that line from behind that television set and plug it in the garage for me.

00:03:54 Thank you.

00:03:55 Okay, fellas. Just keep your eye on that television screen.

00:04:00 Now, that's a baseball. Watch what a blasting cap can do to it.

00:04:05 Here are some of the big and important jobs explosives have done.

00:04:09 Like digging the foundation for a skyscraper.

00:04:12 Explosives were needed to widen the Panama Canal.

00:04:16 That's the Grand Coulee job enlarging the electrical production layout,

00:04:19 and those are some of the blasting caps they used.

00:04:21 That's a blast on the pit face of the Musavi Range.

00:04:24 Now, watch this. I want you to see what a blasting cap could do to a human being.

00:04:36 Well, imagine what it might have done if it went off in your hand.

00:04:39 Yeah, and I almost attached that to my radio battery.

00:04:42 Well, that probably would have set it off.

00:04:45 So might improper handling, as I told you.

00:04:47 That's why the message on these posters our industry sends out is,

00:04:51 very simple, don't touch.

00:04:53 That's what it said on the one at school.

00:04:55 No, I remember it.

00:04:57 But why do you need so many different kinds of blasting caps?

00:04:59 For different kinds of blasting.

00:05:01 Explosives are a vital tool.

00:05:03 Explosives dug that deep foundation through New York City's solid rock.

00:05:06 Explosives, well, for example, explosives have helped dam a river.

00:05:10 They built that hydroelectric power generating station.

00:05:13 Explosives deepened a waterway between two oceans.

00:05:15 Explosives have done hundreds of fascinating jobs.

00:05:19 And, blasting caps like these are needed to make these explosives work.

00:05:24 But no one is building a dam or canal around here.

00:05:27 Over a hundred million blasting caps are used every year.

00:05:32 They're used, excuse me, they're used for all kinds of work.

00:05:35 They're used for mining, quarries, road jobs, public service works, all that sort of thing.

00:05:40 People who work with explosives are very carefully trained.

00:05:43 They're people like me.

00:05:45 We try to be very precise with ourselves.

00:05:48 And in the use of all explosives, we keep a strict count.

00:05:51 We try not to lose them.

00:05:53 But sometimes, no matter how hard we try, they are misplaced.

00:05:57 How?

00:05:59 Because explosives are stolen.

00:06:01 Sometimes they're just abandoned or tossed away.

00:06:04 At any rate, we come across them in abandoned miner's shacks.

00:06:08 Or prospector's shacks, years later.

00:06:11 How long?

00:06:13 Years later.

00:06:15 And, they're still dangerous.

00:06:17 Amazing, with a hundred million in use each year, that more people like Ed don't find them.

00:06:22 I sure was lucky that I really didn't get hurt.

00:06:25 You sure were lucky.

00:06:27 And luckier still to have a friend like this guy who had good sense to call the police.

00:06:31 Well, I've got to be on, fellas.

00:06:33 Mister, wait. Could I have a poster?

00:06:36 Sure.

00:06:39 Here, take one.

00:06:41 Here, fellas, you take these.

00:06:43 Now, pack them up in school where the kids can see them and learn what blasting caps look like.

00:06:47 Then, if they find one, they'll be smart.

00:06:50 And remember, don't touch.