‘And the winner is…’

MPA and British Precast Health & Safety Awards recognize industry’s drive to ‘Vision Zero’

ACTIONS taken by companies and individuals to keep their colleagues safe and well have been celebrated in the first joint Mineral Products Association (MPA) and British Precast Health & Safety Awards.

Themed ‘Safer by Sharing … Safer by Action’, the online event on 10 November 2021 highlighted numerous initiatives to address key health and safety challenges, especially elimination of the causes of the ‘The Fatal 6’, the high-consequence hazards that historically have accounted for the industry’s most serious incidents.

The awards took place 12 months on from the launch of Vision Zero – Safe & Well Every Day, the foundation for MPA’s health and safety ambition until 2025. Prizes were awarded in recognition of companies and individuals who have taken action on the ground and shown strong leadership by deploying good practices and innovations, demonstrating their commitment to Vision Zero.

Hosted by BBC presenter Sybil Ruscoe, and sponsored by IDC (industrial Diagnostics Company), the event was also the first to combine entries from both MPA and British Precast members, with this year’s categories upgraded following feedback from the membership. The new scheme builds on the success of the long established and highly acclaimed MPA Health & Safety Awards.

There are eight new health and safety topic awards, plus a new Young Leader Award category. ‘The Fatal 6' Award has been introduced to recognize the company that has delivered an exceptional innovation to eliminate high-consequence hazards.

The Eurobitume Trophy continues to be awarded for outstanding practices in the road contracting and asphalt sector. Winners of these awards were announced ahead of the Individual Recognition Awards.

The Awards event culminated with the announcement of the winners of the coveted John Crabbe Trophy recognizing a company at the top of its game in health, safety and well-being, and the Sir Frank Davies Trophy presented to an SME demonstrating outstanding commitment to health and safety.

The winners were announced as follows:

• John Crabbe Trophy           Breedon (Winner), CEMEX (Special Award)
• Sir Frank Davies Trophy     Mansfield Sand (Winner), Denfind Stone (Special Award)
• Young Leader Award          (Joint 1st) George Beer, Wainwrights, and Philippa O’Leary, CEMEX; (Runner-up) Oliver Kibble, Tarmac
• ‘The Fatal 6’ Award             FM Conway Ltd
• Eurobitume Award              FM Conway Ltd

Category Topic awards:

• Safer maintenance & housekeeping                                              Mansfield Sand Co Ltd
• Safer production                                                                             Aggregate Industries
• Safer handling of inbound & outbound materials                           Imerys Aluminates Ltd
• Safer management of pedestrians & transport on site                   Acheson + Glover
• Safer transport & logistics                                                              FM Conway Ltd
• Safer operations at a contracting, construction or customer site   Invisible Connections Ltd
• Safer through improvements in health & well-being                      Tarmac
• Safer together                                                                                Tarmac

MPA chief executive Nigel Jackson congratulated the award winners and thanked all those who had submitted entries: ‘We had 136 topic award entries, 30 Young Leader Award submissions, and 43 Individual Recognition Award entries from 37 different member companies. The quality as well as the quantity of entries has been impressive.

‘Our new relationship with British Precast has certainly enhanced the breadth and diversity of entries. I am also encouraged that our members and young leaders are embracing Vision Zero with ideas and innovations that directly address ‘The Fatal 6’.

‘It’s fantastic to be able to get back to recognizing the progress our industry continues to make in health and safety, especially after last year’s pause due to Covid which allowed us to reflect and redefine the shape and scope of the awards to better fit today’s operating environment.

‘The important thing is that we learn the lessons to avoid the problems of the past. The tools and resources from the MPA facilitate sharing across the industry and I encourage all our members to explore, read, and take the lead to adapt and apply ideas and innovations at their sites.’

MPA chairman Simon Willis said: ‘As an industry, we have a collective moral responsibility to make sure everyone goes home safe and well every day. No one person and no one company has all the answers – we can all learn something from the entries into these awards and right now is a golden opportunity to take action. We’re at our best when we learn from each other – everyone is safer by sharing and safer by action.

‘We’re all in this together and we all have the same objective. Everyone across the industry in every job role must be empowered to actively contribute to health and safety – we all have the same responsibility and the same right to safe working.’

The MPA thanks the award judges Dave Bagshaw, Darren Broadhead, Rory Graham, David Neave and Terry Rose, and headline sponsor IDC (Industrial Diagnostics Company) plus trophy sponsors Delta V Partners, Eurobitume, MPQC, Weir Minerals and Sense TMR.

Details of all the entries into the MPA & British Precast Health & Safety Awards will be added to safequarry.com, the mineral products global hub for health and safety. The event can also be viewed on the MPA YouTube channel MineralProducts1 here.