Behavioural safety, together with the latest innovations and good practices helping to keep workers in the UK mineral products industry safe and well, have been showcased at MPA’s Health & Safety Conference & Awards 2026.

Held in London and sponsored by Latus, the event brought together leaders, health and safety professionals, operational teams and industry partners from across the mineral products sector, with many more joining online from sites and offices nationwide.

Hosted by radio and television presenter Mike Bushell, the opening film featured Mike and MPA Chair Lex Russell at Doveholes Quarry, exploring how leadership, culture and individual behaviours shape everyday safety.

This year’s theme of ‘Behavioural Safety from Human Factor to Accountability’ recognised that while systems, procedures and technology remain essential, it is people’s decisions, leadership and behaviours that ultimately determine safe outcomes. Professor Tim Marsh, a behavioural safety expert, and Paul Verrico, a leading UK health and safety lawyer, gave world-class presentations, before a lively panel discussion explored the topic from theory through to practice in the quarry and other operational sites.

The Awards
The afternoon’s MPA Health & Safety Awards recognised excellence and celebrated and shared the innovative ideas and good working practices from MPA members - from individuals and small teams to national SMEs and major global players - that address health and safety challenges,

MPA is delighted to announce that winner of the coveted John Crabbe Award for outstanding performance in health, safety and wellbeing was Lhoist UK, while the top prize for SMEs - the Sir Frank Davies Award - was awarded to Smiths & Sons (Bletchington).

Winners and finalists were announced in the seven category topic awards, recognising innovation and new processes in key activities covering all product sectors.

The Young Leader Award is awarded to the young person under 30 years of age who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in health and safety within their company. The winner was Owen Bevan from Marshalls.

‘The Fatal 6’ Award for exceptional innovation to eliminate high-consequence hazards was jointly awarded to Chepstow Plant International and Tarmac.

The Eurobitume Trophy for the best entry involving bitumen, from production, storage and handling to delivery and highway contracting, was awarded to Holcim UK.

This year saw the launch of the Outstanding Contractor Award, recognising a client-nominated contractor for excellence in supporting the health and safety of the organisation they served. This was awarded to the Walters Group.

Individual Recognition Awards were presented to those people nominated by their company for their outstanding contribution towards the health and safety of their colleagues.  

Award winners were as follows:

Category topic award winners:

MPA Chair, Lex Russell said: “Every discussion, presentation and award today contributes towards a shared commitment to Vision Zero. The organisations and individuals have demonstrated innovation, collaboration and leadership in improving health, safety and wellbeing. By sharing their ideas and experiences they are helping to raise standards across our industry and support our shared ambition to ensure that everyone in the workforce goes home safe and well every day,”

Chris Leese, Executive Chair MPA Executive Management Committee congratulated the award winners and thanked all those who had submitted entries: “We’ve seen an impressive new array of health and safety initiatives and ideas shared from every corner of the industry. Every improvement shared has the potential to prevent the next incident and one company’s success can become another’s life-saving improvement. That is what it means to be Safer by Sharing.”

MPA Head of Health and Safety, Amy Harris said: “I congratulate every company that entered the 2026 awards. Each one is helping to make our industry safer for everyone. The MPA Health & Safety Awards are about more than recognising excellence — they are about sharing ideas that make the whole industry safer.

Every shortlisted and winning entry represents an idea, innovation or practical solution that has helped prevent harm, improve health or strengthen safety culture. By sharing these initiatives openly, we help others learn from proven approaches and adapt them to their own operations.”

Details of all the entries into the MPA Health & Safety Awards will be added to SafeQuarry.com, the free to-access mineral products global hub for health and safety. Videos of the finalists and winning entries are available on the MPA YouTube channel which also features a film of the whole of the 2026 awards event.

The MPA thanks the experienced team of award judges - Dave Bagshaw, Darren Broadhead, Jim Claydon, Rory Graham, Ian Lancaster, Colin Mew, Alan Smith, Gordon Telling, James Thorne and John Wilkinson.

Thanks also to headline sponsor Latus, plus event and category sponsors Certora Training (Safer Together), Eurobitume (Eurobitume), MP Connect (Outstanding Contractor), MPQC (Young Leader), Reece Safety (Safer Maintenance and Housekeeping), STAS Trailers UK (Safer Transport and Logistics) and event sponsors CheckProof and JCB.

Ends.

A full list of Award Winners and Finalists follows on subsequent pages.

About the Mineral Products Association:

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) is the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt, cement, concrete, dimension stone, lime, mortar and industrial sand industries. MPA is the sectoral voice for mineral products, covering 100% of GB cement and lime production, 90% of GB aggregates production, 95% of asphalt and over 60% of ready-mixed concrete and precast concrete production. In 2023, the industry supplied £18.4 billion worth of materials and services to the Economy, directly generating £6.7 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA). It is the largest supplier to the construction industry, which generated £141.5 billion in GVA in 2023.

For media enquiries, contact Elizabeth Clements at Elizabeth.Clements@mineralproducts.org