Safety first: Will it or won't it? Should operators be gambling with the integrity of their silo protection system?

摘要

The past decade has seen significant improvements in quarry health and safety, whereby dedicated programmes such as the 'Hard Target' initiative have resulted in a steady decline in incidents involving deaths and injuries. However, despite this welcome reduction, everyone concerned knows that there is no room for complacency and the recent high profile campaign on accidents in the workplace by the HSE highlights the need for ongoing vigilance, especially when it comes to the potential dangers of slips, trips and falls. (According to the HSE, 15% of all major injury accidents at quarries result from people falling when working at height. Their recent report highlights that '61 people died and more than 14,000 suffered serious injury as a result of a slip, trip or fall from a height in UK workplaces in 2007'.)