MPA hosts site safety summit

Mineral Products Association safety summit focuses on public safety at former quarry sites

EARLIER this week (4 November), representatives from 40 different organizations, including the mineral products industry, nature conservation, safety organizations, regulators, mineral planning, emergency services, landowners, sporting and recreational bodies, gathered together at a facilitated event in London on public safety in former quarry sites.

Delegates were invited to better understand the scale of the issue, to share information about current practices, to examine potential opportunities for co-operation and to agree actions going forward.

The summit follows the tragic death this year of eight individuals in disused or non-operational quarries across the UK.

Nigel Jackson, chief executive of the Mineral Products Association, said: ‘In many cases, responsibility for the management of these former quarry sites has passed from the original quarry operator to local authorities, environmental groups, private landowners or farmers.

‘We wanted to learn the lessons from this year and to identify what measures can be taken over the next 12 months by working collaboratively with other stakeholders to achieve the goal of preventing future fatalities and serious injury to members of the public.

‘The summit has highlighted to us the importance of initiatives already under way, such as the development of a national water strategy. The involvement of all these different stakeholders was very positive; together we identified a range of possible actions and partnerships that we will work on developing over the next 12 months.

‘We will build on the new relationships that we have established and will contact a number of other organizations identified during the summit who can also help to raise awareness of the hazards and risks posed by former quarries and open water.’