Health and Safety Management for Quarry related Degree Courses

Topic One

An Introduction to Health & Safety in Industry

Objectives of this Section

  • To define the basic terminology of the subject area.
  • To outline the reasons for a safe and healthy workplace.
  • To show the accident trends in the UK industry as a whole and the quarrying industry in particular.

Accident –

Undesired circumstances which give rise to ill-health or injury, damage to property, plant, products or the environment; production losses or increased liabilities.

Incident –

Undesired circumstances and ‘near misses’ which could cause accidents.

Ill health –

Acute and chronic ill health caused by physical, chemical or biological agents as well as adverse effects on mental health.

Hazard –

The potential to cause harm. Harm including ill health and injury, damage to property, plant, products or the environment, production losses or increased liabilities.

Risk

Means the likelihood that a specified undesired event will occur due to the realisation of a hazard by, or during work activities or by the products and services created by work activities.

Hazards/Danger

Observable or predicted from knowledge

Risk

Not directly observable - probability of harm to system elements being realised from exposure to hazards and danger.

Harm

Damage to system elements - long or short term

Accidents

InjuriesIll-HealthDamage

Safety

the ‘control of accidental loss’.

Reasons for Preventing Accidents

There are three main reasons for preventing accidents and ill-health, these are

  • Moral/humane;
No-one comes to work to be injured or killed
  • Cost;

Accidents cost organisations money.

e.g. Piper Alpha – 167 people killed – estimated to have cost over £2 billion including £746 million in direct insurance payouts.

  • Legislation.

Organisations have a legal obligation.

UK – Health & Safety at Work Act, 1974.

Accident Costs ‘Iceberg’

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Overheads: Topic 1

Introduction to Health & Safety in Industry

Health and Safety Management for Quarry related Degree Courses

Injuries in the UK (1989/90 – 1998/99)

1989/90 / 1990/91 / 1991/92 / 1992/93 / 1993/94 / 1994/95 / 1995/96 / 1996/97 (a) / 1997/98 / 1998/99
Fatal / 681 (b) / 572 / 473 / 452 / 403 / 376 / 344 / 654 / 667 / 625
Major / workers / 21706 / 21222 / 18698 / 18053 / 17979 / 18354 / 17734 / 29320 / 30002 / 28821
Non-fatal / Public / 11378 / 9981 / 11009 / 10669 / 11552 / 12642 / 13234 / 35694 / 28613 / 23588
+3 day / 167109 / 162888 / 154338 / 143283 / 137459 / 142218 / 132976 / 129568 / 135773 / 131191
TOTAL / 220874 / 194663 / 184518 / 172457 / 167393 / 173590 / 164288 / 195236 / 195055 / 184225

Notes:

(a) Figures from 1996/97 are higher than previous years because of changes in accident reporting brought about by RIDDOR’95 (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulation). Hence these figures cannot be compared with those of earlier years.

(b) This figure includes the 95 persons killed in the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster.

Comparision of Accident Rate (1997/98)

Quarry Industry / Construction / All Industry
Fatal / 20 / 6 / 1
Major / 400 / 382 / 128
+3 Day / 1,400 / 966 / 589

Accidents in the Quarrying Industry (1994-99)

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Overheads: Topic 1

Introduction to Health & Safety in Industry

Health and Safety Management for Quarry related Degree Courses

OHL (3%) / Maintenance (5%)
Contact with Overhead Electricity Lines / While maintaining plant or equipment.
Other (11%) / Crusher Blockages (4%)
Other accidents involving machinery, asphyxiation, burns or explosions. / While clearing crusher or feeder blockages.
Vehicles (41%) / SFS (13%)
Runover by a vehicle, vehicles running over open edge of quarry face, bench or ramp, trapped under vehicle body, vehicle overturned on quarry floor or road, and vehicles colliding with plants or other vehicles / Stumbling Slipping or falling
Falling (8%)
Struck by falling objects or ground
Conveyors (11%)
Engulfed (4%) / Trapped between belt and head/tail drum rollers.
Buried in material

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Overheads: Topic 1

Introduction to Health & Safety in Industry