Children risk lives playing in quarries

THE Quarry Products Association recently launched its annual ‘Play Safe…Stay Safe’ campaign with updated resources for use by quarry managers and an emphasis on the increasing problem of motorcyclists using quarries.

‘Children are quite naturally looking for fun, and quarries may well seem to offer that,’ said Elizabeth Clements of the QPA. ‘But quarries are for work and definitely not for play. We have surveyed our members throughout the UK and in some places there are undoubtedly accidents waiting to happen.

‘Our members take the risk very seriously and the campaign we have launched has the support of the emergency services right across the country.’

Commenting on the campaign, Richard Diment, chief executive of the Ambulance Services Association, said: ‘Ambulance personnel come face to face with the consequences when children are injured playing in quarries. We are in full support of the campaign to warn not just schoolchildren, but also their parents and teachers of the dangers.’

One of the most worrying problems relates to youngsters who take motorbikes and mountain bikes into quarries. ‘Quite apart from heavy machinery, quarries also have uncertain ground conditions that can throw the most capable of young scramblers off their bikes,’ said Elizabeth Clements.

‘We are also conscious that many of the children who go into quarries during the summer are reluctantly following friends. It is with that in mind that we have developed a new resource designed to help teachers guide children on resisting peer pressure.’

Copies of the QPA’s schools resource pack and the accompanying ‘Play Safe…Stay Safe’ video are available from: