Setting The Standard
HSE praises impressive progress of quarrying industry at recent joint IQ Conference/MPA Health and Safety Awards
This year’s Institute of Quarrying annual conference was hosted in conjunction with the MPA Health and Safety Awards, which took place at the prestigious Savoy Place conference centre in London on 6 October.
The IQ conference programme started with the 2010 meeting of the Presidents' Committee, where senior representatives from Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Southern Africa were joined for the first time by a representative from the newly established meeting group in the Middle East. This was followed by a Council meeting and AGM, at which Martin Isles took over the Presidency from David Sharman on a two-year term.
IQ members and other guests attending the joint conference/awards were later treated to the traditional ‘Welcome Dinner’ at the Charing Cross Hotel on The Strand, with after-dinner entertainment provided by former England cricketer Geoff Miller, who is well known as a humorous speaker and certainly lived up to his reputation on the night.
As for the combined conference and health and safety awards day itself, the event proved to be a resounding success with nearly 340 delegates attending – a new record.
With health and safety continuing to be a key issue for the industry, it came as no surprise to see a number of senior figures contributing to the programme, including Chris Leese, chair of MPA Health & Safety Committee, Judith Hackitt, chair of HSE, Terry Last, chief executive officer of Tarmac, and Peter McKie, chairman of HSE Northern Ireland.
One of the major challenges facing the quarrying sector is improving its health and safety performance further, and this year’s event not only made attendees aware of the need to achieve a fully competent workforce but also highlighted the industry’s significant progress towards its target of ‘Zero Harm’ to employees, contractors and the businesses themselves.
The IQ conference/MPA best-practice awards demonstrated the success and confidence of quarry operators, who have achieved excellence in both occupational health and safety and high standards of competence. This year MPA received a record-breaking 347 entries for its seven categories of awards.
Having commended the sector at Hillhead 2010 for its remarkable safety achievements, Judith Hackitt once again praised the impressive progress of the aggregates industry and its drive towards zero accidents and injuries. She said: ‘To have achieved a 76% reduction in RIDDOR reportable incidents over the last nine years is a great achievement and demonstrates just what can be done with real commitment over the long haul.’
Judith also emphasized how operators can play a pivotal role in improving health and safety performance throughout their supply chains by being actively open and through sharing good practices across the sector. ‘Sharing and driving good practice among your suppliers is something where you can lead and where the role of the regulator can be strictly one of support,’ she explained.
‘I believe that you have the enthusiasm and the capability within your community to take this agenda forward…I know that you have ideas which you believe could make a difference to safety in your operations if your suppliers can be convinced to make safety modifications to some of the mobile plant equipment they supply to you.’
Next to take the stage was Terry Last, who gave a moving and inspiring presentation to the delegates about the importance of delivering a safer, more visible and healthier workplace for employees. He spoke about how Tarmac’s safety culture has significantly changed in recent years and described a very personal experience early in his career that forced him to look at health and safety best practice as his most important priority.
After the mid-morning coffee break, many outstanding examples of industry best practice and innovation in health and safety were showcased and celebrated at the event. The top MPA prize, the John Crabbe Memorial Trophy, was accepted by Simon Willis, managing director, on behalf of Midland Quarry Products for outstanding excellence in health and safety.
The afternoon session opened with a presentation of prizes and awards for the Institute’s Professional Examination, with Becky Slater picking up the prestigious Clugston Award for obtaining the best overall results (see accompanying table for a full list of the winners).
Following the presentations, IQ president Martin Isles announced that Hanson UK were the next member to enter the Corporate Professional Competence Scheme and invited chief executive Patrick O’Shea on stage to sign the certificate.
As the industry aims for complete competence, Nigel Jackson, chief executive of MPA, concluded the proceedings by congratulating quarry operators for their notable achievements in health and safety, and he urged that they continue to share and spread best working practices across the wider aggregates industry while fulfilling the goal of having a fully competent workforce.
As Nigel stressed, there is still a lot of work to be done and achieving zero accidents and injuries in the quarry workplace will require even more hard work, determination and innovation in health and safety management.
After the IQ/MPA event, the Institute’s international guests and their partners were taken on a tour to look at the sustainable development provisions for the 2012 Olympic site.
Quarry Technology Diploma Examination Prize Winners 2010
Leonard Clugston (Average of all ten modules)
Prize Winner: Rebecca Slater (Tarmac)
Reginald Coles Award (Health, Safety, Legislation & Practice)
Prize Winner: Robin Hall (AI)
Runner-up: Rebecca Slater (Tarmac)
Peter Preston Award (Quarry Operations)
Prize Winner: Rebecca Slater (Tarmac)
Runner up: Robin Hall (AI)
Ransomes Rapier Award (Quarry Engineering)
Prize Winner: Carl Rowley (Mission Sand & Gravel)
Runner-up: David Wilson ( Lafarge)
Rexnord Award (Quarry Operations Blasting)
Prize Winner: Martin Sutheran (AI)
Runner-up: Carl Rowley (Mission Sand & Gravel)
Goodwin Barsby Award (Construction Materials Testing)
Prize Winner: Jason Bowman (Lafarge Cement)
Runner-up: Adam Lawson (Tarmac)
Tilcon Award (Business Management)
Prize Winner: David Wilson (Lafarge Aggregates)
Runner-up: Ian Sunderland (McDonald Surveyors)
Longcliffe Calcium Carbonates Awards of Excellence
Foundation Year (Average of three modules)
Prize Winner: Jonathan Kent (Imerys)
Runner-up: Clover Clarkson (Sibelco)
Certificate Year (Average of four modules)
Prize Winner: Trevor Moore (Kellys of Fantane)
Runner-up: Rhys Buckley (Hanson UK)
