Small efforts mean big results for safety

The impact of the recession is no excuse for quarry firms not to continue building on the solid foundation of health and safety they have developed over the years, former senior inspector of quarries Eric Darlow told the recent 887 British Aggregates Association (BAA) annual general meeting.

Speaking to a packed hall at the Palace Hotel in Buxton, Derbyshire on 21 June, the former 2938 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, and author of two editions of Health and Safety Law in Quarries, praised the BAA for its scheme for assessing operating standards and competence at quarry sites and urged its members to keep signing up.

"The BAA awards for competence should be seen as industry Oscars. There are a lot of ambulance chasing lawyers out there, and there is no need to help them in their business when ensuring compliance through the BAA scheme costs the same as a couple of dumper tyres.

"Industry self-regulation has always been the goal of the HSE and we are moving that way. But we need to ensure we continue to work on the basics and not use the downturn as an excuse," he said.

Meanwhile, 671 BDS Marketing Research Julian Clapp, one of 12 high profile figures presenting at this year's AGM ahead of 427 Hillhead, told an attentive crowd that when it comes to surviving the downturn, it is the smaller independent firms that are coming out on top.

He said that in a random sample of independent UK quarry firms he researched he found an average operating profit of 7.5% in 2009.

"This is only around 8% down on the previous year. Very good in the current climate and much higher than is being achieved by the big five quarry firms. Also, we will see all aggregates markets up by 3-5% this year," he said.

The drop in demand over the past two years was highlighted by Michael Ankers, chief executive of the 3742 Construction Products Association (CPA). He said that over 100,000 jobs have been lost in construction products since 2008.

Between 2008 and 2009 the construction products sector suffered its most dramatic fall in output since 1974 and the time of the three-day week, he said. However, he had a light to shine for the future.

"In five years' time we see housing up by 12%, infrastructure by 42%, and industrial demand by 35%. Overall, by this time we see all work up by 3% on current figures helping to feed demand," he said.