Features

Maintenance is not the exclusive domain of tters and mechanics. It is also the responsibility of almost all workers in every sector and is carried out in almost every working environment worldwide. De ning maintenance, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (in its e-facts series) says it is “working on something to keep it in a functioning and safe state and preserving it from failure or decline.” “The ‘something’ could be a workplace, work equipment, or means of transport, for example a ship,

Good housekeeping at a quarry site will greatly reduce the risk of accidents. Maintaining a tidy working environment is a major step towards reducing or eliminating accidents in the workplace. Incidents such as slips, trips and falls can be eliminated with a good housekeeping procedure. This will include identifying and then tackling the relevant issues to prevent such incidents. Many quarry companies already do this as a matter of course, drawing up a housekeeping checklist following a risk assessment. Suc

For the third year in a row the Seepsula rock factory has won a major safety competition. The Finnish company, which has its headquarters in Tuusula just north of the capital Helsinki, picked up the award in the Infra-organised safety competition. The business, which supplies rock products over a wide area, is also eager to safeguard the environment and in 2012 in published its sustainability report. Seepsula’s state-of-the-art crushing plant is in Senkkeri near the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, and is designed

The EU Water Framework Directive’s ambitious targets for 2015 are approaching. What are the likely impacts on aggregates businesses? Simon Trahair-Davies of Stephens Scown LLP reviews the legislation and concerns over its impact on the aggregates industry. An important area of legislation for aggregates and minerals businesses across Europe is the EU Water Framework Directive and the domestic legislation that is implementing it in member states. While there is a lot of good practice in the industry and supp

A company’s new machines are being used at a quarry operation in north-west England. Civil engineering, plant hire and road haulage group P & L Barton has invested in two new Powerscreen mobile crushing plants. The company, based in Carnforth, north (County) Lancashire, England, sourced the XA400S and 1000 Maxtrak crushers from appointed distributor Blue Machinery Central. Currently working at a quarry in County Cumbria, north-west England, they join a fleet of excavators and hydraulic attachments, bulldoze

Finning has supplied three new Caterpillar machines to the Hillhouse Quarry Group. This is said to provide a solution to reduce the size of its fleet by two units, while retaining the same level of productivity at its quartz-dolerite quarry in Ayrshire, Scotland. Following multiple onsite surveys conducted by Finning, and based on prior experiences that the Hillhouse Group had with Cat equipment, it has invested in two Cat 775G off-highway trucks and a Cat 390D hydraulic excavator replacing smaller ADTs and

As the top aggregates producer in Europe, Germany is making the most of its strong position to ensure that it continues to lead the way out of the recession. Industry commentators agree that the overall economic prospects still look positive and that the improving employment situation plus favourable financing conditions are helping to incentivise home ownership, which can only be good for Germany’s historically healthy construction market. (Existing buildings, however, still account for more than 75% of th

European Associations are working cooperatively to ensure a well informed and adequately prepared supply chain capable of implementing the European Union (EU) Directive on identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses by the revised deadline of April 2015. The Commission Directive 2008/43/EC setting up a system for the identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses is part of the series of measures to help combat terrorism and adopt measures to strengthen the control of explosiv

Waste material generated from the quarrying of decorative stone can represent a profitable quality product provided the equipment used is able to contain costs and deliver high productivity. Puglia, a region that boasts one of the most important mining industries in Italy, possesses several districts where quarrying plays a leading role in the local economy. One of the most important is Apricena, site of Apricena Stone, known throughout the world for its aesthetic qualities and hardness. Apricena Stone is a

Located 50km from the capital Doha, Qatari Primary Materials (QPMC) operates one of the world’s largest sand cleaning plants. With temperatures reaching 40°C and 64,000tonnes of aggregate needed to be handled for every export shipment, Volvo Construction Equipment’s wheeled loaders are helping with operations in the gas-rich state. Volvo CE is involved in one of the country’s largest industrial operations, having provided QPMC with a fleet of machines to help the state-owned company meet the needs of both l