Also known as an Explosive Ordnance Handler or Blast Setter, the main responsibility of a blaster is to place and detonate explosives. They usually work on building demolition projects, loosening rocks and other structures to displace them or dislodge minerals from them. Blasters work under potentially dangerous conditions and handle heavy equipment and machinery. You will test surfaces in quarries, underground mines, and buildings to examine their strength and determine the right amount and type of explosive to use on them. You will also mark target areas for the blast and drill holes to be packed with explosives. The blaster is in charge of compacting a charge, connecting wires to explosives, and detonating them.
To become a blaster, you need a high school diploma or GED. An apprenticeship program or on-site training is also needed to get the experience needed to perform the responsibilities of this role. Blasters must be highly knowledgeable in handling explosives and should be good at working safely with the mechanisms involved. Blasters earn an average hourly income of $17.23 per hour or $31,823 yearly.
What is a Blaster?
What Does a Blaster Do
There are certain skills that many blasters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, detail oriented and color vision.
How To Become a Blaster
If you're interested in becoming a blaster, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 9.8% of blasters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.4% of blasters have master's degrees. Even though some blasters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Blaster Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of forklift operator you might progress to a role such as driver eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title superintendent.
Average Salary for a Blaster
What Am I Worth?
Top Skills For a Blaster
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 19.1% of blasters listed cdl on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and detail oriented are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Blaster Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Blaster templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Blaster resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Blaster Demographics
Blaster Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among blasters, 4.7% of them are women, while 95.3% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among blasters is White, which makes up 69.4% of all blasters.
- The most common foreign language among blasters is Spanish at 70.0%.
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Best States For a Blaster
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a blaster. The best states for people in this position are Virginia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Blasters make the most in Virginia with an average salary of $46,129. Whereas in Arizona and Pennsylvania, they would average $45,099 and $44,946, respectively. While blasters would only make an average of $44,692 in Wisconsin, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Wisconsin
$44,692
Avg. Salary
2. Pennsylvania
$44,946
Avg. Salary
3. Virginia
$46,129
Avg. Salary
How Do Blaster Rate Their Jobs?
Top Blaster Employers
Most Common Employers For Blaster
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AECOM | $63,491 | $30.52 | 2 |
| 2 | Calgon Carbon | $43,375 | $20.85 | 7 |
| 3 | American Railcar Industries | $42,101 | $20.24 | 3 |
| 4 | Dyno Nobel | $41,096 | $19.76 | 5 |
| 5 | Union Tank Car | $40,729 | $19.58 | 13 |
| 6 | GBW Railcar Services | $40,223 | $19.34 | 6 |
| 7 | PCC Airfoils | $40,197 | $19.33 | 11 |
| 8 | WESCO Distribution | $39,975 | $19.22 | 4 |
| 9 | HKA Enterprises | $39,801 | $19.14 | 5 |
| 10 | Rescar Industries Inc | $39,709 | $19.09 | 9 |