Play safe - guide for teachers

The problem

Every year, young people are injured and sometimes tragically killed while playing in quarries, marine wharves and other operations around the UK. The Mineral Products Association’s (MPA) annual Play Safe ... Stay Safe campaign has been set up to explain the dangers of treating quarries as playgrounds.

A new nationwide survey from the MPA has found that 85 per cent of quarries that responded were concerned about adult trespass. In the majority of cases, this was associated with leisure activities, such as dog-walking, motor-cycling and bird-watching. In some cases over recent years, fences have been cut by adults trying to steal the eggs of rare birds. By cutting or breaking down fences to gain entry, a gap is left which provides easy access for youngsters and leaves them exposed to a range of potential dangers.

How you can help

This issue is relevant for each school in the country - as there is always a quarry no more than 20 miles away.

Teachers and youth leaders are vital partners in the campaign to spread the message to young people that quarries are not places to play. Your support could help us save lives.

Safety education is an increasingly important element of the National Curriculum, particularly within PSHE and Citizenship. If you are able to build information about quarry safety into your lessons, you may like to use some of our schools resources, which can be downloaded or ordered below. For general background on quarrying, visit our Virtual Quarry.

One of the most effective ways of highlighting the dangers of quarries is to arrange a supervised quarry visit or to invite the local quarry manager to visit your school. Contact us if you would like help or advice in setting up a visit.