Health & Safety Management for Quarries

Topic One
An Introduction to Health &
Safety in Industry

Objectives of this Section
To define the basic terminology of the subject
area.
To outline the reasons for a safe and healthy
workplace.
To show the accident trends in the UK industry
as a whole and the quarrying industry in
particular.

Accident
Undesired circumstances which give rise to
ill-health or injury, damage to property, plant,
products or the environment; production
losses or increased liabilities.

Incident
Undesired circumstances and near misses
which could cause accidents.

Ill health
Acute and chronic ill health caused by
physical, chemical or biological agents as
well as adverse effects on mental health.

Hazard
The potential to cause harm. Harm including
ill health and injury, damage to property,
plant, products or the environment,
production losses or increased liabilities.

Risk
Means the likelihood that a specified
undesired event will occur due to the
realisation of a hazard by, or during work
activities or by the products and services
created by work activities.

Hazards/Danger
Observable or predicted from knowledge

Risk
Not directly observable - probability of harm to system elements
being realised from exposure to hazards and danger.

Harm
Damage to system elements - long or short term

Accidents

Injuries Ill-Health Damage

Safety
The control of accidental loss.

Reasons for Preventing Accidents
There are three main reasons for preventing
accidents and ill-health.



Moral / Humane

No-one comes to work to be injured or killed

Cost

Accidents cost organisations money.

e.g. Piper Alpha 167 people killed estimated to
have cost over 2 billion including 746 million in
direct insurance payouts.

Legislation

Organisations have a legal obligation.

In the UK Health & Safety at Work Act, 1974 and
associated Regulations
e.g.
Management of Health & Safety at Work Regs 1999
Quarry Regulations, 1999

Accident Costs Iceberg
1
8-36
Insurance Costs
Covering Injury, ill
health, damage
Uninsured Costs
Product and material
damage.
Plant & building damage
Tool & equipment damage.
Legal costs
Expenditure on emergency
supplies.
Clearing site
Production delays
Overtime working and
temporary labour
Investigation time.
Supervisors time diverted
Clerical effort.
Fines
Loss of
expertise/experience
Injuries in the UK
(1989/90 1998/99)
1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97
(a)
1997/98 1998/99
Fatal 681 (b) 572 473 452 403 376 344 654 667 625
Major Workers 21706 21222 18698 18053 17979 18354 17734 29320 30002 28821
Non-fatal Public 11378 9981 11009 10669 11552 12642 13234 35694 28613 23588
+3 day 167109 162888 154338 143283 137459 142218 132976 129568 135773 131191
TOTAL 220874 194663 184518 172457 167393 173590 164288 195236 195055 184225
Notes:
(a) Figures from 1996/97 are higher than previous years because of changes in accident reporting brought about by RIDDOR95 (Reporting of Injuries,
Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulation). Hence these figures cannot be compared with those of earlier years.

(b) This figure includes the 95 persons killed in the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster.
Comparison of Accident Rate
(1997/98)


Quarry
I ndustry

Construction

All I ndustry

Fatal

20

6

1

Major

400

382

128

+3 Day

1,400

966

589

Accidents in the Quarrying
Industry (1994-99)
115
108
193
144
124
5
8
3 8
5
0
50
100
150
200
250
1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99
Fatal
Major
OHL
Vehicles
Other
Falling Objects
Conveyors
Maintainence
Crusher
Blockages
SFS
Types of Fatal Accident (1983-1993)
Types of Fatal Accidents (1983-93)
OHL (3%)
Contact with Overhead Electricity Lines
Maintenance (5%)
While maintaining plant or equipment
Other (11%)
Other accidents involving machinery,
asphyxiation, burns or explosions
Crusher Blockages (4%)
While clearing crusher or feeder
blockages
Vehicles (41%)
Runover by a vehicle, vehicles running
over open edge of quarry face, bench or
ramp, trapped under vehicle body,
vehicle overturned on quarry floor or
road and vehicles colliding with plants or
other vehicles
SFS (13%)
Stumbling, Falling or Slipping
Falling (8%)
Struck by falling objects or ground
Engulfed (4%)
Buried in material
Conveyors (11%)
Trapped between belt and head/tail drum
rollers