| Hands on health and safety challenges |
Westleigh Quarry was asked to stage a health and safety day for the South West and Wales area of Bardon Aggregates.
The event was designed by the quarry manager to ensure that it delivered a ‘hands on’ quarry based learning experience for everyone involved.
Five topics were included:
- Quarry Excavation Design –geotechnical experts explained the dangers, followed by a test paper;
- Working at height and face activities – looked at ladders and edge protection issues;
- Control of contractors operating mobile plant - a dumper was turned upside down and actors were employed for the day to stage a dumper coming out over an unprotected edge. This was also followed by a test paper;
- Fixed plant hazard spotting - 30 hazards were carefully placed around the area and ranged from tripping hazards and guarding to unsafe working. Actors were also used in this area and a written test paper was given; and
- Incident investigation – a dumper was reversed over a Landrover to demonstrate the damage that a dumper can cause. The teams then had to
investigate what had happened and how, again actors were deployed in this area.
The day began with an introduction from the general manager and activities began thereafter. Each activity lasted for 30 minutes with 15 minutes travelling time around the quarry to the next event.
Workers benefited from the interactive approach, clear demonstrations and the messages were reinforced through test papers. |
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