Innovative engineering wins award for Banks

THE Banks Group have been awarded the Noise Abatement Society’s 2004 John Connell Award for Innovation in recognition of their efforts to reduce mobile plant noise. The company has established a noise-control team to research and design modifications to site plant to create a better working environment for staff and to minimize the possibility of off-site noise pollution.

The programme has succeeded in halving the volume of sound emitted by the Terex excavators and Cat dumptrucks used at two of the company’s opencast coal mines in Yorkshire and Northumberland. This has been achieved by lining the machines’ engine compartments with acoustic insulation panels as well as fitting exhaust and cooling air inlet silencers.