7 June 2010

MPA Members Win Top European Sustainable Development Awards

Two MPA member companies, Lafarge Aggregates Ltd and Hanson UK, won top prizes at the European Aggregates Association (UEPG) Sustainable Development Awards in Munich on 27 May.  Hanson UK won the overall ‘Social Pillar’ category and was presented with the Health and Safety Best Practice Award for Criggion Quarry in Shropshire, whilst Lafarge Aggregates Ltd won the Restoration Best Practice Special Award for the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Nigel Jackson, Chief Executive MPA, said, “Two of our members winning top prizes at European level is an excellent achievement and an accolade we can all be proud of.  Health and Safety is an absolute priority for MPA members.  Our aim is to drive down the number of reportable injuries and achieve Zero Harm: we succeeded in beating our own ‘Hard Target 2009’ and have now set an even more ambitious health and safety targets for the next 5 years.

“The ‘Safer by Design’ voluntary initiative which Hanson UK played a key role in pioneering with the MPA has received great international recognition and support and is now an official UEPG project.  This initiative further demonstrates MPA’s commitment to improving health and safety across the whole supply chain.”

Mr. Jackson added, “The National Memorial Arboretum is an outstanding example of restoration which also won MPA’s top national prize for restoration.  We are pleased the importance of high quality restoration in the UK as part of our contribution to sustainable development is recognized in these European Awards.”

Hanson’s winning submission for Criggion Quarry demonstrated how the company responded to repeated injury incidents involving falls from mobile plant, by commissioning an in-company survey of all UK mobile plant to identify and install remedial measures. Machines were inspected for evidence of defective design and 550 individual machine reports were generated, covering 260 items of mobile plant. Managers and staff co-operated positively and installed a wide range of practical health and safety improvements, reducing accident potential at all company sites.

Hanson UK had previously won the ‘TUC Trophy’ under MPA’s national Health and Safety Awards Scheme 2008 and knowledge from this survey provided the nucleus to formulating the ‘Safer by Design’ initiative via http://www.Safequarry.com.

The award-winning submission from Lafarge Aggregates Ltd outlined the development and importance of the National Memorial Arboretum. Restoration of the site where the National Memorial Arboretum now stands was completed by Lafarge Aggregates in the 1990s.  As well as providing the land, Lafarge has been instrumental in the creation and rapid growth of the Arboretum. Now the Arboretum represents over 150 groups - military and other; it employs over 20 people; has over 100 regular volunteers; and nearly 300,000 people passed through the gates during 2008. The continued expansion of this special wildlife haven is being managed in conjunction with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. The Trust has helped encourage a rich diversity of wildlife throughout a wide variety of habitats.

ENDS