Safer by Competence

MPA demonstrates determination to reach Zero Harm

In the following article, Martin Isles, director, health & safety, with the Mineral Products Association,  describes how the MPA is notching up sector-leading successes in demonstrating the competence credentials of its members in the relentless drive towards Zero Harm.

The Mineral Products Association is the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar and silica sand industries. With the recent addition of The British Precast Concrete Federation (BPCF) and the British Association of Reinforcement (BAR), it has a growing membership of 465 companies and is the sectoral voice for mineral products. MPA membership is made up of the vast majority of independent SME companies throughout the UK as well as the nine major international and global companies. It covers 100% of GB cement production, 90% of aggregates production, 95% of asphalt and ready-mixed concrete production and 70% of precast concrete production. Each year the industry supplies £9 billion of materials and services to the £120 billion construction and other sectors. Industry production represents the largest materials flow in the UK economy and is also one of the largest manufacturing sectors.

In terms of health and safety, the MPA is the clear leader in the extractives industry and possibly beyond. A case in point is the demonstration of workforce competence where the achievements of the MPA membership are drawing attention not only from the Health and Safety Executive, but from central government as well.

Zero Harm – aspiration or expectation?

MPA member companies understand that Zero Harm can only be achieved where there is workforce competence and genuine team working. Many MPA members have already demonstrated that Zero Harm can be achieved routinely, year on year.  

MPA policy on ‘competence’

To focus corporate minds in a practical and measurable way, MPA members conceived, developed and are implementing a ‘Safer by Competence’ policy to deliver demonstrable competence across the sector. This ambitious campaign comprises a series of targets encompassing employees and contractors across all products and services within the MPA’s footprint.

By setting out routes to meeting National Occupational Standards relevant to job functions, ‘Safer by Competence’ includes a range of targets applicable to all with operational roles.  Vocational qualifications provide the logical solutions for the great majority of MPA members, and these represent the preferred approach. To help facilitate the planning and delivery of a fully competency-assured industry, the Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC) offers MPA members free advice on all competence matters. MPQC provides detailed online assistance via a Competence Map on www.Safequarry.com, the industry’s freely accessible health and safety website, funded by the MPA.

‘Safer by….’:  A unique set of initiatives

A family of other MPA ‘Safer by….’ initiatives support the ‘Safer by Competence’ policy.

It was this spectrum of tools that largely contributed to the MPA winning the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ (RoSPA) coveted ‘SME Assistance Trophy’ in 2012.

‘Safer by Design’

Internationally acclaimed, ‘Safer by Design’ comprises voluntary guidance to address the design vacuum that exists between many manufacturers and users of heavy mobile plant. The initiative is supportive of the European and International standards-making systems but recognizes that these are necessarily cumbersome and produce standards that fall way short of the ‘state of the art’ claimed to be represented by the CE mark. Accessible via www.Safequarry.com, the ‘Safer by Design’ web pages are also designed to be used by operators of existing heavy plant who aspire to upgrade their machines closer to current levels of industry best practice.

‘Safer by Sharing’

In addition to brokering one-to-one expert mentoring, the MPA addresses operational audiences through a series of ‘Safer by Sharing’ seminars. Expert speakers address prioritized issues with the accent on audience participation. Ten such MPA seminars have already delivered high-quality CPD to a wide range of participants, with a full programme of fresh topics for 2013. These seminars have been very successful in allowing members to share health and safety ideas with other members. 

‘Safer by Association’

A site-based self-help health and safety evaluation and learning tool, ‘Safer by Association’ is offered free to all MPA companies. Aimed primarily at helping SME members, the base package addresses generic health and safety, with an expanding series of product extensions.  Each topic offers a range of multiple-choice questions from which the user selects answers appropriate to site circumstances. The options reflect answers that are ‘below par’; ‘acceptable’; and ‘best practice’.

‘Safer by Partnership’

MPA statistics show contractors to be disproportionately at risk of injury. ‘Safer by Partnership’, therefore, concentrates on contractor safety. Launched at ‘Hillhead 2012’, this package aims to improve contractors’ and members’ mutual understanding, needs and communications. The main components are:

1. MPA/PICS Contractor National Database: Operated by PICS on behalf of the MPA, this database provides significant administrative benefits by providing a one-stop-shop for mineral products industry operators, be they clients or contractors.
2. MPA Contractors Charter: Via a number of contractor forums, the MPA listened to and gauged the median views of a wide range of contractors. From these roots, the Charter has been devised and will be launched imminently.

Tangible benefits of ‘Safer by Competence’

The MPA is renowned for its production of user-friendly quarterly health and safety metrics spanning 100% of its membership. Visually helpful charts, tailored to a variety of target audiences, aid assimilation and understanding for members. This ethos has been extended to measurements charting the progress of ‘Safer by Competence’ by assessing, periodically, the levels of engagement and achievement with the policy.

This unique set of MPA health and safety initiatives is focusing widespread attention on the need for competence and practical ways of demonstrating it. Challenging deadlines enhance the incentives, but it is the structured drive towards these achievements that speaks volumes of the MPA’s determination to reach Zero Harm.