Tarmac Ltd scoops first place at Health & Safety Awards

1st Place

Tarmac Ltd, Northern Ireland

2nd Place (Joint)

Edentrillick Quarries Limited

Whitemountain Quarries Limited

3rd Place

Clarke Group Limited

QPANI Regional Director Gordon Best spoke on the accident statistics and outlined the new initiative that will replace the Hard Target Clubs and ensure that excellent work done to date is continued.

Sand & gravel and precast sectors continue to be proportionally higher than other sectors. Continued emphasis, awareness and training to maintain competency is required to further reduce incident rates within the industry.

No fatal accidents are recorded and the majority of incidents fall within the over three day category. With better reporting from the industry, the trend shows ongoing improvement.

Our Target is Zero Accidents.

It is our social responsibility to aim for nothing less.

Hard Targets Proposal

In 2005 the Association set out its commendable objective to reduce accidents in the Northern Ireland quarry products industry by 50% by 2010. At the launch of the Initiative 58 member companies signed a commitment to support and work to achieve the industry objective. In order to encourage, support and promote the initiative we set up the regional Hard Target Clubs chaired by members of our safety committee and attended by representatives of the HSENI. There is no doubt that they have contributed to raising awareness and improving the performance of the industry.

Having reviewed the performance and attendance at the clubs over the last year and consulted with members I would propose that the existing Hard Target Clubs are dissolved and that an alternative arrangement is made whereby Health, Safety and Environmental professionals from within the industry can meet to network and discuss key issues that affect the industry and provide solutions for approval by our Executive Committee.

This arrangement could be facilitated by two Health, Safety and Environmental briefings held in March and October. The format would be similar to our Regional meetings starting at around 6.00pm with a sponsored tea and two topics, chosen by the membership for presentation and discussion.

Download the presentation here:

Accident Statistics and Hard Target Update (191KB)

Core Value

The highest priority for QPANI members is the health and safety of their employees, contractors and visitors.

Malcolm Downey from HSENI outlined the Quarry Focused Inspection Campaign 2008.

Between 17th November - 28th November 2008 seven HSENI teams of inspectors have a target to inspect 50 quarries.

The focus will be mainly quarries who have not been inspected within the past 18 months. Main topics for inspection are:

• Workplace transport
  • Segregation of pedestrians and vehicles
  • All-round visibility
  • Vehicle maintenance
  • Brake testing
• Maintenance of haul roads and edge protection
• Machinery guarding
• Appraisal of excavations and tips

Register of Enforcement Notices

The aims of the HSENI are to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees and to safeguard others who may be exposed to risks from work activities.

HSENI inspectors normally enforce health and safety standards by giving advice on how to comply with the law. Sometimes, however, inspectors must order people to make improvements by issuing them with a notice, either an Improvement Notice which allows time for a recipient to comply or a Prohibition Notice which prohibits an activity until remedial action has been taken.

HSENI issues notices to companies and individuals for breaches of health and safety law and/or where imminent risk of serious injury exists. If necessary HSENI may prosecute recipients for non-compliance with a notice.

HSENI website gives details of enforcement notices issued by HSENI inspectors from April 2007 and subsequently by calendar year. Notices will appear on the Register for a period of five years. 

You can search Enforcement and Prohibition Notices on the HSENI website by clicking here.

Download HSENI presentation here:

View from HSENI (695KB)

HSENI's Vision for Northern Ireland is "to achieve world-class health and safety and therefore improve the overall economic and social well being of our community".

For news, safety alerts, information and guidance go to the HSENI website.

BuildHealth is a joint venture between the construction industry in Northern Ireland and HSENI. Its aim is to improve the health of the workforce in the Northern Ireland Construction Industry.

Visit the BuildHealth website www.buildhealthni.com

Martin Isles, QPA Director of Health and Safety updated the industry on the issues relating to Respirable Crystalline Silica and outlined the discussions at the recent Atlantic Alliance Conference.

"Respirable Crystalline Silica" has been a major topic of discussion throughout Europe, in recent years. QPA & SAMSA, through their respective memberships of UEPG and Eurosil/IMA-Europe, have given intensive support to the development of an autonomous multi-sectoral "Social Dialogue Agreement". This bi-partite Agreement (Employers & Unions), was signed in Brussels on 25 April 2006 in the presence of the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Read more about Respirable Crystalline Silica on the members website or download presentation.

The Atlantic Alliance Conference pools the knowledge, experience and resources of the combined membership, and communicates best practice to improve the Health, Safety and Welfare for all who work within the Quarry Industry. Martin updated the conference on the recent conference in the USA and the European Issues.

Sharing Good Practice 2007/08

Entries from the QPA Health and Safety Best Practice Awards

The published guide summarises the ideas and innovations to come from the Quarry Products Association's Health and Safety Best Practice Awards 2007. The guide is a compilation of solutions that companies have applied to minimise and, where possible, eliminate health and safety risk arising from their daily operations. The ideas and innovative approaches are often very simple and inexpensive and could readily be applied to a range of common industry problems.

The Sharing Good Practice 2007/08 Guide is available from QPANI , please contact Fiona Taggart by email or telephone (028) 9082 4078 to order copies. In addition, the entries can be viewed at www.safequarry.com, where those from the previous seven years of the awards scheme can also be accessed.

Download presentations here:

Silica Update (535KB)

European Issues and Atlantic Alliance Conference (1MB)

Brian Duthie from Key Geosolutions Ltd spoke on the Quarries Regulations (NI) 2006 focusing on Excavations & Tips. Brian's presentation dealt with the regulations, design, excavations and tip rules, geotechnical assessments and HSE enforcement.

Quarry Operator has an absolute duty to design, construct, maintain and operate all excavations and tips in order to avoid instability or movement that could give rise to a risk to health and safety.

The excavations and tips must be competently designed. The design is monitored by the geotechnical assessment which is an independent document. A geotechnical specialist is part of the management structure of the site, has onerous legal duties and clearly plays a pivotal role in defining how any quarry should be operated.

Download the Geotechnical Assessment here:

Geotechnical Assessments (956KB)

Brian Hill gave the conference an interactive presentation based on his experiences as a H&S Manager with the Morgan Est Farrans JV Belfast Sewer Project for Northern Ireland Water.

Brian spoke on behavioural based safety where BELIEFS influence EXPECTATIONS influence ATTITUDE influence BEHAVIOUR. Focusing on a safety reminder culture (gorillas in the workplace), congruent messages, positive messages to change beliefs in order to change behaviour.

Download Brian Hill's presentation here:

Creating Behavioural Change for a Safer Workforce

(485KB)

Sam Glass, Health and Safety Manager from the Harvey Group spoke on his experiences and giving examples of best practice. Established in 1978, the company has successfully completed a diverse range of mechanical and electrical projects both in Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Getting the information through from MD level to Site Supervisors to Sub-contractors to Apprentices was discussed in Sam's presentation.

Download Sam Glass's presentation here:

Health and Safety Management (450KB)