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The annual conference 2004 washosted by the North Wales branch inthe splendid Carden Park Hotel near

Chester, which is surrounded by two golfcourses and parkland. Indeed, nearly 50persons competed in a golf competitionorganized on the day following thesymposium.

The symposium entitled ‘Developing aculture of health and safety’ was intendedto review the improvements achieved bythe implementation of the policy of‘Revitalizing health and safety’ and the‘Hard target’ initiative, the first stage ofwhich concludes next year.Theprogramme for the symposium wasarranged with the active co-operation ofthe Quarry Products Association and theHealth and Safety Executive, whichensured that the subjects of thepresentations were extremely relevantand that the information presented wasfully up to date.The importance of thesubject allowed The Institute to attractexecutives, senior managers, industryexperts, public figures and consultants toaddress the delegates.

As measured by the number ofdelegates registered for the symposium,the conference was an overwhelmingsuccess, well exceeding the plannednumber and even exceeding the numbersattending Minerals 2002 and ECMP ’99.On the day, more than 230 membersand non-members had booked for theevent, which stretched the cateringfacilities. Indeed, the planning numberswere also exceeded for all of the socialevents.

This year the symposium was arrangedas two consecutive sessions chaired byTerry Last, newly elected president, andCedric Hollinsworth, chairman ofCouncil. In order to cover a wide rangeof subjects within the general theme, thetraditional format of the programme hadbeen modified to include 14 succinctpresentations instead of only seven oreight.Although this produced some over-run of the morning session, this formatseemed to be appreciated by thedelegates.

The proceedings began with a welcomeby Geraint Roberts, chairman of theNorth Wales branch, who introduced thenewly elected president,Terry Last. In histurn,Terry introduced the keynotespeaker, Bill Callaghan, chairman of theHealth and Safety Commission, who hadkindly agreed to present the prizes in a

ceremony that commenced with theawards for the Institute’s ProfessionalExamination.

First among the prize winners was JoeCookson who won both the Clugstonand Preston Awards and came runner-upin the Ransome & Rapier Award. Clare

Chadwick also won three prizes, namely,runner-up for both the Clugston andPreston Awards and winner of theRexnord Award.Two other students wontwo prizes. Richard Savage won theRansome & Rapier Award and wasrunner-up in the Rexnord Award.

Annual Conference2004 Review

Golf course green with Carden Park Hotel in the background

Prize-winners in the Professional Examination with the newly elected president Terry Last and Bill Callaghan,chairman of the Health & Safety Commission. Left to right: Doreen Spratt,Terry Last, Jonathan Banner, ClareChadwick, Bill Callaghan, Joe Cookson, Richard Savage and James Whittaker

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Jonathan Banner won the Coles Awardand was runner-up for the TilconAward. James Whittaker won theGoodwin Barsby Award and DoreenSpratt was runner-up for the ColesAward. Regrettably, neither John Leighton,winner of the Tilcon Award, nor PaulKiely, runner-up for the Goodwin BarsbyAward, was able to attend the

conference.The Marston Award for the best paper

presented to a branch meeting was givento Carmella Barbour for her paperdiscussing the value to a business ofinternal customers. Just recently, Carmellawas appointed manager of IvonbrookQuarry and is a member of the Midlandsbranch committee.The Ruston BucyrusAward went to Ed Reed for his paperdescribing a strategy for sustainabilitypresented to ‘Minerals 2002’.

Over many years, starting in 1994,TheInstitute has worked on the developmentof occupational standards for quarrymanagers and the certification ofcompetence.This work culminated in2002 with the accreditation of NVQs inHealth, Safety and EnvironmentalManagement in Quarries, commonlydescribed as SHE NVQs, to be awardedby EPIC Awarding Body. During this yearthe first candidates successfullycompleted the assessment process andwere invited to the conference to beawarded their certificates andcongratulated by Bill Callaghan.The veryfirst were Andy Aplin at level 3 and IanSouthgate at level 4 to be followedshortly by Paul Fisher, Steve Thatcher andKevin Traves at level 5.

Finally, the president invited SteveCole, chairman of the West of Englandbranch, to accept the President’s BranchTrophy from Bill Callaghan in recognitionof the efforts of the branch committeeto recruit new members and promoteCPD.

The keynote address was given by BillCallaghan, who compared theperformance of the quarrying industry toindustry in general and took theopportunity to present the recentlypublished strategy of the HSC for 2010and beyond. Nationally, industry hadresponded to the ‘Revitalizing’ initiativefor health and safety, which had a targetof 10% reduction of injuries and fatal

incidents, but improvements seemed tobe stagnating. By comparison, thequarrying industry was exceeding targetstowards a 50% reduction and could be amodel for others.The strategy had fourprincipal elements: partnerships,promotion of benefits of safe practices,concentration of resources, andcommunication. In these respects, he waspleased to see partnerships between theTUC and the quarrying industry to trainsafety representatives and between EPIC,The Institute of Quarrying and the HSEto create a competent and, thereby, safeworkforce. He congratulated FosterYeoman on the introduction of arehabilitation scheme to get people backto work. In the formulation of future‘Hard targets’ he stated that it wasimportant to consider occupationaldiseases and ill-health in addition tophysical injury.

The second speaker was RobbieRobertson, chief executive officer,TarmacGroup, who stated that concern for thehealth and safety of employees was notonly a moral imperative, but goodbusiness.Tarmac had set a more

Carmella Barbour receiving the Marston Awardfrom Bill Callaghan

Bill Callaghan presenting Ed Reed with the RustonBucyrus Award

Andy Aplin (second left) and Ian Southgate (second right) with John Hopkins,Bill Callaghan and Ken Riley

Left to right: John Hopkins, chairman of EPIC Awarding Body; Ken Riley,chairman of EPIC Training and Consulting Services; Paul Fisher, Bill Callaghan,Steve Thatcher and Kevin Traves

Steve Cole, chairman of the West of Englandbranch (left), is congratulated by the president forwinning the President’s Branch Trophy

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demanding target of zero lost-timeinjuries by 2005 and he was pleased toreport that substantial improvements hadbeen made. For example, 90% ofoperations had suffered no lost-timeinjuries for over a year and the businesswas 20 times safer than in 2000. He wasconvinced that the target was achievableprovided that everyone was totallycommitted.

In his response,Tom Mellish,TUChealth and safety policy officer, expressedhis disappointment that ‘Revitalizinghealth and safety’ had not proven to beas radical as promised. He claimed that2004 had been a very bad year for fatalinjuries at work and stated his concernsabout the policy to seek to manage risksand not eliminate them, the lowinvestigation rate of incidents and themovement towards providing advicerather than enforcement. In support ofhis argument he lamented the fact thatthe HSE’s budget had been frozen until2006.

Next to speak on behalf of theworkforce was Colin Evans, a quarry

supervisor at Hanson’s PenderynQuarry, and well known for hiscontributions to creating a saferworkplace. He described the day-to-daypracticalities of instilling safe behaviourinto the workforce.

Last to speak in this session was KenRiley, chairman of EPIC Training andConsulting Services Ltd. He described themanagement, funding and work of EPIC,stressing that this training organizationbelonged to the industry through QPAand was responsible to the industrythrough its Council. EPIC existed to carryout projects requested by industry.Withrespect to creating a competent and saferworkforce EPIC offered a variety ofNVQs for operators, the SHE NVQs,training courses and videos, thecontractors safety passport scheme andskill cards. He encouraged industry tomake more use of EPIC.

In the next session devoted toimproving occupational health, DrJonathan Cleeland of Private Health Caretackled the difficult problem ofmonitoring for work-related stress.While

there is no clear definition of stress, northe consequent diseases or disorders,there is a need to consider monitoringunder the ‘managementregs’. Stress may be the cause of‘adjustment disorders’, which may bemanifested as symptoms in bothorganizations and individuals. Examplesare absenteeism, reduced performance,irritability, loss of sleep and carelessnessleading to unsafe incidents. Herecommended companies to take medicaladvice so that common causes andsymptoms could be recognized and tomonitor employees periodically byquestionnaire.

Michelle Wyart-Remy, secretary generalof the Industrial Minerals Association –Europe, attempted an even more difficulttask of informing delegates of the likelyregulation by the EU of respirablecrystalline silica (RCS).The issue wasconfused by the scientific controversysurrounding the definition of RCS as acarcinogen. Inhalation of RCS can causesilicosis, which increases the risk of lungcancer in humans. It is possible that RCSmay be classified as a dangeroussubstance for purposes of labeling or itmay be banned from public products or itmay be classified as a carcinogen andgiven a very low occupational exposurelimit (OEL) of 0.05mg/m3. Michelleadvised the quarrying industry to beconcerned and interested in the debate.

The effectiveness of reward andincentive schemes for safe work wasdiscussed by Ivan Carr of Collinson GrantConsultants. From his experience heconcluded that reward and incentiveschemes do work but they must besimple and the linkage must be obvious.The reward should not be linked to theoutcome of fewer reported incidents andtrade unions are opposed to suchschemes that may result in incidentsgoing unreported. Similarly, the rewardshould be given if production ismaintained and not conditional on any

Session chairman,Terry Last, with the speakers in the first session (left to right): Bill Callaghan,Terry Last,Ken Riley,Tom Mellish and Robbie Robertson

Dr Jonathan Cleeland advises delegates onmonitoring for stress in the workplace

Dr Michelle Wyart-Remy explains the possibleregulation by the EU of crystalline silica

Ivan Carr describes the most effective incentiveschemes for rewarding safe work

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increase in production. In the mosteffective schemes the rewards are paid forinputs such as implementation of safesystems of work and removal of hazards.Ivan also speculated on the effectivenessof including directors’ bonuses in thesafety incentive scheme!

In the final presentation before lunch,Roseanne Hayward, developmentdirector, EPIC Training and ConsultingServices Ltd, outlined the new servicesoffered to industry by EPIC using anacronym,ABC — Always Be Competent.A guide to N/SVQs for employees hasbeen prepared and is proving very helpfulin removing the ‘mystery’ surroundingNVQs.The company is now anassessment centre employing assessorswho are available to the industry and canprovide on-line assessment andqualification of assessors through OCR.EPIC has developed special trainingcourses for hauliers and environmentalcourses, is actively involved in therecruitment campaign for the industryand has produced a CD-ROM promotingcareers to young people.

During lunch and breaks for

refreshments, delegates were able to visitthe exhibition stands of suppliers ofsafety equipment and advice to theindustry.

The delegates had been kept waiting intrepidation for the first presentation afterlunch, in which Rob Pearce, PrincipalInspector of Health and Safety,announced the expectations of the HSEespecially in respect of enforcing therequirement to provide demonstrableevidence of competence. Rob began byillustrating a number of dangerousoccurrences and incidents that hadcaused injury. His purpose was not just tograb attention, but to deliver the messagethat tragic incidents like these wereavoidable especially if the workforce iscompetent. In his opinion, themanagement of the industry needed toknow more about the quarrying process,to understand the consequences of itsdecisions and to involve the workforce.He cited the Royal Commission onQuarries which concluded that manymanagers were better acquainted withcommercial matters than working aquarry.

With respect to demonstrableevidence of competence he cited NVQs,registration with the Engineering Councilor Chartered professional status andcontinuing professional development(CPD), and he expected all employees tobe able to produce this evidence by 2010.He stated that long experience alone didnot prove competence and that evidenceof underpinning knowledge was requiredin addition. He was, therefore, concernedabout the dwindling number of coursesand educational establishments dedicatedto training people from the mining andquarrying industries.

Geraint Morris of Lafarge Aggregatesthen reviewed the progress of a WorkingParty of the Quarries National JointAdvisory Committee (QNJAC) that hasthe objective of providing guidance ongood practice and a standard specificationfor access to mobile plant. He explainedthat statistical analysis had shown thategress, exit and access to mobile plant forinspection, cleaning and operation was asignificant cause of incidents. Efforts toreduce these incidents were not assistedby the lack of a common specificationagreed between the major operatingcompanies and the consequentcompliance with minimum standardswhen better was achievable. Heillustrated both good and bad examplesof providing access.

The theme of the conference wasaddressed directly by the next speaker,Tony Metcalfe, health and safety directorof Wates Construction. He stated thatthe construction industry contained manybad practices and had a poor safetyrecord. His company had examinedpractices overseas and found the bestculture in Finland, where workersconsidered that keeping the workplacesafe and clean was part of their job.Following their example,Wates hadintroduced excellent welfare facilities forworkers, controlled access to sites,innovative technology, guidance on PPE, atravelling safety roadshow, and were now

Delegates among the exhibition stands

Rob Pearce states the expectations of Inspectors of Health and Safety in terms of competence Martin Isles presents a montage of video clipsshowing safety improvements

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obtaining sustained and substantialimprovements.

A montage of video clips showinginnovations to improve health and safetywas then presented by Martin Isles of theQuarry Products Association. Each cliprelated to an entry in the QPA BestPractice competition and demonstratedwhat could be achieved by aware andmotivated employees at relatively littlecost.

The symposium was concluded mostappropriately by Professor Peter McKie,CBE, formerly chief executive officer ofDupont, who delivered the triennialMcPherson Memorial Lecture entitled‘Visible Felt Leadership’. He began bygiving the reasons for concern withhealth and safety that had beenmentioned by previous speakers andcontinued by proposing four elementswhich, when combined, determined thelevel of safety, namely: equipment,systems/procedures, people, andleadership. It is known that 90% ofincidents are caused by people so, in hisopinion, the key element is visible feltleadership to change the behaviour of thepeople.The quarrying industry has madegood progress but the ‘low hanging fruitmay have been harvested’. From his pointof view the industry had a number of

problems to overcome including: a lack ofconviction by some that zero incidentswas possible, a culture based onproduction and long hours, a belief inengineering solutions, and an autocraticstyle of management that created a

dependent state of mind in theworkforce.Above all else it was essentialto convince the workforce thatmanagement was committed to achievingimprovements through ‘visible feltleadership’. �

Peter McKie accepts a plate carved fromWelsh slate from the president after giving the McPhersonMemorial Lecture