Hanson – Heidelberg Cement

Repeated injury incidents involving falls from mobile plant required action to prevent recurrences. Hanson’s CEO commissioned an in-company survey of all UK mobile plant toidentify and install remedial measures. The survey was carried out, not by health and safety specialists, but by ‘front line’ operational and maintenance personnel. A toolbox talk tasked recipients and their supervisors to inspect their machines for evidence of defective design. Each talk was accompanied by a follow-up survey and completion of a Hazard Identification Form. 550 individual machine reports were generated, covering 260 items of mobile plant. A spreadsheet of report data was created and the results analysed. Examples of poor or inadequate design were reviewed and local remedial solutions devised, wherever possible. Main areas of concern were: Access visibility; Windscreen cleaning; Damaged access systems; Preventing slips, trips and falls by Operators and by Maintenance personnel. Specific difficulties, such as refilling autolubes, were also highlighted. Managers and staff co-operated positively and installed a wide range of practical health & safety improvements. Inevitably, these were all retrofit solutions, thus highlighting the array of safety design inadequacies across the whole spectrum of mobile plant. Accident potential at all company sites has been greatly reduced, as a result. Hanson UK takes great pride in having won the prestigious 2008 “TUC Trophy” awarded under the MPA national Health & Safety Awards Scheme. This win provided sufficient inertia to apply the knowledge derived from the survey to help formulate the “Safer by Design” prevention initiative. The growing international support for the voluntary “Safer by Design” recommendations emphasises the vital role that this Hanson UK entry played in providing the practical nucleus, thereby comprising a key forerunner of “Safer by esign” itself adopted recently by the UEPG Board as a UEPG Project. Hanson UK’s “Mobile Plant Access Survey” is an ultra important and relevant contribution to the “Social Pillar” of sustainable development. It has generated intense interest and support across Europe and beyond. As such, it comprises an exceptionally strong contender for the UEPG “Social Award of Excellence”.