Lafarge celebrate major safety milestone

Aberthaw Works staff celebrate success after achieving three years without a lost-time injury

LAFARGE Cement UK’s Aberthaw Works rounded off the end of 2011 by celebrating a major safety milestone having achieved three years without a lost-time injury (LTI). The achievement marked the end of another successful year for the site, which has also been at the forefront of the company’s UK network in terms of product output, efficiency and reliability.

Aberthaw Works manager James Kirkpatrick said: ‘In a heavy industry like cement manufacture, it is exceptional to go for such a long period without a significant injury and this success is entirely down to the commitment of the whole team at Aberthaw. No matter what role they play in the operation, everyone in their own way has contributed to making the plant one of the safest cement works in the country.’

Traditionally within Lafarge Group, works teams have always celebrated their successes. For reaching this milestone, the company gave every member of staff a ‘SmartWater’ home security kit. SmartWater can be used to assign items of value with their own forensic signature and thereby acts as a deterrent to thieves by increasing the chances of arrest and subsequent prosecution.

Significantly, the same material has also been adopted at the Lafarge site as a theft deterrent. In recent months Aberthaw Works has been victim to a number of cable thefts which have put members of staff and the criminals themselves at risk of electrocution and death. Regular checks for stolen metal marked with SmartWater are now taking place at scrap yards and at roadsides, and it is hoped that the much higher risk of detection and prosecution with SmartWater will deter criminals from targeting the site in future.

Vale Policing Inspector Mark Taylor said: ‘The introduction of SmartWater technology at the Aberthaw site is a positive step forward as we continue with our commitments to tackle metal theft in the Vale. Forensic code liquid technology, such as SmartWater, provides us with yet another weapon in our armoury in the fight against crime.’

James Kirkpatrick added: ‘Everyone at the plant has put in a tremendous effort to achieve a third year with no LTIs. We value our staff’s health and safety both at work and at home, and it is only right that we can give them an extra measure of security for their families and their property. The best we have found is SmartWater, so it seemed appropriate that they be offered the same level of protection as the place where they work.’