What does a blaster do?
Their duties may require them to process improvement techniques in yield, efficiency, and quality, provide technical expertise in internal and external manufacturing, manage external vendors, and arrange equipment purchases.
Blaster responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real blaster resumes:
- Blast rail freight cars with steel grit to achieve require blast profile per paint specifications or customer's request.
- Blast paint off of aluminum wheels in cabinet.
- Lead foreman - run pipe sandblasting crew on site at oil field refineries.
- Operate bobcat, emulsion, truck, and other equipment necessary to blasting.
- Transport sand and run a three man crew to keep things on a tight schedule.
- Mentore and train international employees on policies and regulations regarding ammunition and explosives resulting in expanding foreign networking.
- Organize and sandblast gun accessory products make daily for purchase orders.
- Sandblast trailers, wash and clean trailers prep trailers for painting booth.
Blaster skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Blasters are proficient in CDL, Hand Tools, and ATF. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Detail oriented, and Color vision.
We break down the percentage of Blasters that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CDL, 25%
Maintained current Class A CDL.
- Hand Tools, 14%
Seal vessels using manual and power hand tools preparing them for hydro static testing.
- ATF, 8%
Maintained blast reports and inventory for the mine site and ATF.
- Fall Protection, 6%
Received certifications in EPA regulations, rigging and fall protection.
- Blast Equipment, 6%
Blast equipment and blow down and get ready to paint
- Grit, 5%
Job Duties: Prepared train rail cars for removal of paint and/or chemicals with metal grit and high power blasting hose
Most blasters use their skills in "cdl," "hand tools," and "atf" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential blaster responsibilities here:
Detail oriented. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling blaster duties is detail oriented. The role rewards competence in this skill because "painters must be precise when creating or painting edges for overall quality of appearance." According to a blaster resume, here's how blasters can utilize detail oriented in their job responsibilities: "perform troubleshooting, modification and detailed repair on b-1 and b-3 modulators by using work instructions, drawings, schematics. "
Physical strength. A big part of what blasters do relies on "physical strength." You can see how essential it is to blaster responsibilities because "painters must be able to lift at least 50 pounds and move heavy items during the course of a job." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical blaster tasks: "water blaster/rail under direct and indirect supervision performed various physical labor duties on rail cars. "
The three companies that hire the most blasters are:
- Austin Powder Holdings Company9 blasters jobs
- Dyno Nobel9 blasters jobs
- Calgon Carbon6 blasters jobs
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Compare different blasters
Blaster vs. Gun perforator loader
An Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician is an expert that handles unexploded ammunition and secures the proper disposal of explosives and weaponry. They must be able to find, gather, and safely dispose of explosive devices. They assist federal, military, state, and local law enforcement agencies in anti-terrorism procedures. For this position, they must know how to locate and disable military, commercial, industrial, and improvised explosive devices and have experience as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Noncommissioned Officer.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, blaster responsibilities require skills like "fall protection," "blast equipment," "grit," and "safety regulations." Meanwhile a typical gun perforator loader has skills in areas such as "inventory control," "inventory counts," "federal laws," and "general supervision." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Gun perforator loaders tend to reach similar levels of education than blasters. In fact, gun perforator loaders are 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Blaster vs. Explosive technician
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that blaster responsibilities requires skills like "hand tools," "fall protection," "blast equipment," and "safety regulations." But an explosive technician might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "hazardous materials," "eod," "ammunition," and "manual labor."
Explosive technicians earn similar levels of education than blasters in general. They're 1.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Blaster vs. Explosive ordnance technician
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a blaster is likely to be skilled in "cdl," "hand tools," "fall protection," and "blast equipment," while a typical explosive ordnance technician is skilled in "patrol," "scuba diving," "improvised explosive devices," and "extraction."
Explosive ordnance technicians typically earn similar educational levels compared to blasters. Specifically, they're 4.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Blaster vs. Explosive ordnance specialist
Types of blaster
Updated January 8, 2025
