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’
Insurance Costs
Covering Injury, ill
£1 health, damage

UninsuredCosts
£8-36 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.
Supervisor’s 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 1997/98 1998/99
(a)

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 RIDDOR’95 (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 Construction All Industry
Industry

Fatal 20 6 1

Major 400 382 128

+3 Day 1,400 966 589

 Accidents in the Quarrying
Industry (1994-99)
250

200 193

150 144 Fatal

115 124
100 108 Major

50
5 8 3 8 5
0
1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99
Types of Fatal Accident (1983-1993)

Conveyors OHL
Falling Objects
Vehicles

SFS
Crusher Other
Blockages
Maintainence
Types of Fatal Accidents (1983-93)
OHL (3%) Maintenance (5%)
Contact with Overhead Electricity Lines While maintaining plant or equipment

Other (11%) Crusher Blockages (4%)

Other accidents involving machinery, While clearing crusher or feeder
asphyxiation, burns or explosions blockages

Vehicles (41%) SFS (13%)

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
Engulfed (4%)
Buried in material
Stumbling, Falling or Slipping
Falling (8%)
Struck by falling objects or ground
Conveyors (11%)
Trapped between belt and head/tail drum
rollers