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Brett Hosts SEQLG Safety and Health Awareness Day

Brett Aggregates had the pleasure of hosting the South East Quarries and Landfill Group (SEQLG) 2018 Safety and Health Awareness Day at its Queen Mary Quarry operation near Staines on 12th September.

 

Brett Aggregates had the pleasure of hosting the South East Quarries and Landfill Group (SEQLG) 2018 Safety and Health Awareness Day at its Queen Mary Quarry operation near Staines on 12th September.

Over 100 attendees from the industry

The varied programme attracted over 100 attendees representing 22 different companies from across the quarrying and landfill industries and provided plenty of practical advice on working safely as well as an ideal opportunity for delegates to share their experiences and discuss best practice.

Who are SEQLG?

SEQLG is an HSE/industry initiative designed to improve the health and safety culture of quarrying and landfill companies. The Group organises a Safety and Health Awareness Day once a year, in partnership with one of its member companies. 

A wide range of safety and health topics 

Set in the context of a busy operational quarry, this year’s event covered a range of hot topics, including Working at Height, Occupational Health – RCS (Respirable Crystalline Silica), Fault Finding, Guarding and Lock Out, Manual Handling, Mobile Plant, Confined Spaces, First Aid and Working on or around Water. 

Delegates were divided into teams visiting eight topic stations in turn for informative presentations designed to stimulate discussion and encourage people to think how what they were learning could be applied to their own workplace. 

First class training

Topic stations were manned by experts within each area – Simon Singlehurst led the Manual Handling session, the Confined Spaces workshop was provided by Steve Shaed and Billy Grieves of MRS Training Services and Jason Dobson and Andy Dyke from Spillards took the teams of delegates through safety equipment on mobile plant. 

Other sessions were led by SEQLG Committee Members, including Kevan Shovlar from Hanson, who provided Fault Finding, Guarding And Lock-out training with her colleague, Stacey Hopkins while Jason Aked from CEMEX and Martin Lever (RT Safety Solutions) led the Working On Or Around Water session alongside the vast reservoir at Queen Mary Quarry which is still dredged by Brett Aggregates.  First Aid training, delivered by John White of Posturite, covered CPR and use of a defibrillator.

Brett people

The day was kicked off by Chris Pike, the Brett Group's Head of Health and Safety supported by Health and Safety Manager, Graham Neave. Brett Aggregates Operations Manager for London Home Counties, Gary Langton also arranged a number of displays of equipment, including a state-of-the-art dust suppression rig and a mobile plant tyre handling lorry.

 “The Awareness Day is the perfect chance to show operators what is available in the market and to talk about hot topics within the field of health and safety at work,” says Gary. “It gives people from all sorts of roles in very different companies the chance to network and it was great to see so many delegates from SMEs again this year.”

Feedback from the HSE and SEQLG on how the day went

As well as the annual Awareness Day, SEQLG holds two free meetings a year, open to all, with the objective of improving knowledge, sharing best practice and keeping operators up-to-date with safety legislation.

Representing the HSE and Chairman, Sharon Spain now works at Frimstone Limited in East Anglia. Brett Aggregates has played an active role in the organisation for many years and has hosted similar Awareness Days in the past at other locations.

“SEQLG brings together a cross section of people, industries and expertise,” says Sharon, “and the HSE is highly supportive of our objectives. We are all passionate about health and safety in the workplace and believe that bringing people together from small, medium and large companies to talk about safety is invaluable.” 

This year’s Awareness Day was a resounding success with positive feedback from delegates and trainers alike. “All credit must go to the Brett people,” says Mary Carter, Secretary of SEQLG.

“Staging an event like this requires a lot of hard work, focus and commitment and the Brett team did a phenomenal job.  Special thanks must go to Gary Langton, who offered Brett Aggregates’ Queen Mary Quarry as a host venue almost a year ago and has actively led the steering group who organised the day ever since, to Sam Argyle, Trainee Manager at Brett Aggregates, who really stepped up to the challenge and to Katie Jones, Operations Administrator, for her sterling work in keeping everything moving behind the scenes.  In fact, all the people on site and other London and Home Counties members have been brilliant and clearly take a great deal of pride in their workplace.”

Prize-giving fun to end the day

The day ended with a prize-giving ceremony. Each team had to complete a Q&A sheet at the end of each topic presentation and the highest scoring team were given a prize.  Models of mobile plant were awarded as prizes to Jon Swygart for the best individual evaluation form and, on a more light-hearted note, to Ricky Wilson, for the most accurate throwing of a life ring and line from a new pontoon on the Queen Mary Reservoir. The delegates then set off home with goody bags provided by Southern Vulcanising Ltd.

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SEQLG Awareness Day