Imerys’ Blackpool Pit scoops top RoSPA award

STAFF at Imerys’ Blackpool Pit have good cause to celebrate after their site was recently judged to be the safest quarry in the country by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

Imerys say the award is a tribute to the efforts of their employees, in particular the staff at Blackpool Pit, where there has not been an accident resulting in time off work for more than three years – 1,200 days.

Workers from the quarry travelled to the NEC in Birmingham for the annual RoSPA Occupational Safety Awards ceremony, where they picked up the trophy as winners of the Mining and Quarrying Sector.

Imerys also picked up three Gold Medals at the awards for their drilling and blasting section and their operations at the Burngullow dryers and Trebal refinery, in recognition of their achievement of a very high standard of health and safety at work over four years.

Mark Richards, pit manager at Blackpool Pit, said: ‘We are delighted to have won this award, which is the result of a huge amount of commitment by our staff right across the company.

‘It’s an acknowledgement that, as a business, we are working hard to achieve the highest standards, but most importantly it is also a message to our workforce that we are determined to send them home safe and well at the end of every day.’

The company’s commitment at all levels to health and safety is also reflected by Ashley Shopland, Imerys’ UK operations director, also taking the role of safety director.

He said: ‘Five years ago we signed up to a challenge given by the Health and Safety Commission to the quarrying industry as a whole, to reduce accidents in the sector by fifty percent.

‘We are already well ahead of the rest of the industry, but what this award shows is that we are continuing to work hard to develop and refine our health and safety systems.’