Industry urges buyers to use Hillhead for plant firm H&S wake-up call

Industry leaders are calling on all aggregate producers and processors buying plant such as excavators and wheeled loaders at this year’s Hillhead International Quarrying and Recycling Show to demand a minimum 25-feature safety package from manufacturers to help further improve worker health and safety in the UK.

Writing for this issue of MQR magazine, QPA health and safety director Martin Isles urges buyers to demand more from plant firms in terms of the standard features they attach to machinery in the UK.
The rate of improvement in incident reduction has started to slow, he says. And to re-orient and re-energise the drive towards zero incidents, a commitment needs to be made from plant manufacturers to do their part for their customers.

“The QPA urges all plant procurers to use Hillhead to extend a wake-up call to all manufacturers that the user industry has a right to expect a range of standard features,” he told MQR.

His call to buyers is supported by former Foster Yeoman H&S director and now consultant Rory Graham. For him the problem lies in the profile of the ISO committee overseeing standards in earthmovers as consisting mostly of manufacturers.

“The standards are behind what most forward thinking aggregates companies are requiring. Also, they are not keeping up with EU legislation. An example of this is the Work at Height Regulations.

“Plant firms are listening to us but the trouble is that the standards committee on earthmovers is loaded with manufacturers and not users. We need to get more users on to the committee,” he told MQR.

First steps to get users on the committee are currently being made by the QPA and the CEA, although it will be a long process. And as the lead times between a change in standards and the first models hitting the market is about five years, it is not an immediate solution.

CEA president Paul Ross told MQR he felt the plant sector was engaging with the health and safety issue.

“It is easy to impose regulations but we need something valid for the end user. It has to be feasible for the type of equipment. Health and safety is foremost in our mind,” he said.

However, he did promise greater emphasis on weighting the standards committee more evenly: “If it is not reasonable to the end user then this needs to be addressed,” he said.

He was also suprised to hear the accusation of standards lagging behind in terms of EU Working at Height regulations.

“This is the first I have heard of it. If it is the case then it needs to be rectified and we will look into it,” he said.

The QPA’s Isles echoes Graham’s concerns over the standards committee keeping up with EU regulations.

“He is completely right. I support him totally on that. Many QPA members have expressed doubts over the committee. It is a real problem,” he says.

To help drive matters forward MQR is carrying the full 25 standard feature list the industry would like to see on plant sold in the UK. We have listed them with tick boxes so you can walk around Hillhead  entering ticks to see how the various manufacturers measure up.

It includes basic additions missing from key manufacturers’ models we have seen recently. For example, red and white chevrons for excavator counterweights.

We urge all readers to get involved to help continue to drive the industry down the path of H&S improvement.

As Graham says: “We are the ones under pressure to meet H&S targets and the ones with injured staff and potential law suits. Plant firms need to play their part.”