Closed 11/01/2010

What do you think will be the major challenge for the industry in 2010?

Commentary

December’s vote question was: What do you think will be the major challenge for the industry in 2010? 57.1 per cent of votes went to ‘coping with the recession’, 28.57 per cent went to ‘achieving CO2 reduction targets’ and 14.29 per cent of votes went to ‘improving on health and safety performance’.

The results of this vote reflect the mineral products industry’s main concerns at the moment. Right now the industry is operating in the depths of the most severe recession it has ever experienced. Over 2008 and 2009, we will have seen the aggregates, concrete and cement markets all shrink by around 40 per cent and asphalt by more than 20 per cent. In 2009, construction output has fallen at the fastest annual rate ever recorded and we will see the lowest peacetime level of house building since the 1920s. As a result of the recession there have been many redundancies within the industry, where companies have had to make the hard choice to cut costs. It is natural that, in this climate, coping with the recession has come out with the most votes as the major challenge for 2010.

However, despite the massively challenging commercial environment in which the mineral products industry is currently operating, the industry is still driving forward sustainability issues and is determined to do even better. One of these issues is CO2 reduction and, as MPA’s first Sustainable Development Report for 2009 reveals, much progress has been made on this front: the cement industry has recorded a 40% reduction in absolute CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2008; MPA has been working closely with the Carbon Trust to develop and implement a carbon reduction programme in the aggregates and aggregate products sector and significant company programmes are being implemented; also , the asphalt sector has worked closely with its supply chain and key customers such as the Highways Agency to develop the Asphalt Pavement Embodied Carbon Tool (asPECT), a carbon calculator which will provide consistency and transparency in reporting.

Health and safety is the top priority for MPA members, who are committed to making further improvements in this area. Health and safety is also examined in the SD Report: since 1999 MPA members producing aggregates and mineral products have reduced HSE-reportable injuries by 80% and in the last five years the cement industry has reduced the number of Lost Time Injuries by 70%. MPA is seeking to achieve at least a 50 per cent reduction in the rate of LTIs for our direct employees over the next five years, at least a 50 per cent reduction in the number of LTIs recorded by Contractors, and all with an overarching aim of Zero Harm.

In addition, MPA works closely with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and provides sector-leading representation on the tripartite Quarries National Joint Advisory Committee, as well as active support for the ‘Target Zero’ initiative. MPA involvement is also active in HSE’s ‘CHARGE’ Committee which includes Cement and Concrete within its scope.

A major new initiative, launched at MPA’s annual Health & Safety Best Practice Awards in October 2009, is ‘Safer by Design’ in which we are working closely with suppliers of plant and equipment to improve the ‘designed-in’ safety of plant and equipment purchased by the industry. MPA is working hard to ensure that the voluntary guidance comprising this initiative gains traction across Europe and beyond, by forging international links with like-minded centres of expertise overseas.

To read MPA’s Sustainable Development Report, click here.