Quarry managers go back to school

QUARRY managers from all over Britain have been back to school for an innovative managers’ training day as part of the Quarry Products Association’s ‘Play Safe…Stay Safe’ 2007 campaign, which was launched this week.

The session was arranged by the QPA to give quarry managers the confidence and knowledge to take the Play Safe…Stay Safe messages to young people and to develop their links with schools generally.

More than 20 delegates, representing both large and smaller operators, took part in classroom-style sessions, which gave them an understanding of how to deliver their messages in a lively and interesting way.

Tim Parry, communications manager with the QPA, explained: ‘We wanted to make the day as relaxed as possible, so all delegates were invited to ask questions, share their experiences and offer their own advice throughout. The overall goal was to help QPA member sites overcome youth trespass and so avoid accidents and potentially save lives.’

Kate MacRae, educational advisor on the QPA’s interactive ‘Virtual Quarry’ project, led a practical session on ideas to deliver the safety message to five-to-11-year-old pupils. Tips included: keeping the language simple, making sessions visual and active, and using open questions. She also urged the quarry teams to use puppets as an interactive delivery tool to relay safety messages to the children.

Another interactive session came from Emma Kilbey, an education adviser who has worked with QPA in finding new ways to tackle teenage trespass. She ran a condensed version of QPA’s ‘Mature Thinking’ programme for 11-to-16-year-old pupils, the aim of which is to help youngsters to make mature decisions about all types of risk-taking.

‘We wanted to introduce this training to provide quarry managers with practical tips on implementing our Play Safe…Stay Safe message this summer,’ said Tim Parry. ‘We are, therefore, very pleased that 94% of quarry managers who attended the course said that they would recommend colleagues to attend.’

Further advice and an interactive safety game is available from the QPA’s Virtual Quarry website, which also offers an online quarry tour as a safe alternative.