Midland Quarry Products pass 2 million man hours without a lost-time incident (LTI) at Cliffe Hill Quarry
MIDLAND Quarry Products are celebrating the achievement of one of the UK’s largest quarries reaching the milestone of 2 million man hours worked without a lost-time incident (LTI) occurring.
The team based at Cliffe Hill Quarry, Ellistown, Leicestershire, are now approaching nine years since the last employee LTI, and four years since the last contractor LTI.
In reaching this milestone the Cliffe Hill team have shown that by acting responsibly, making safety personal and taking time to plan their work, accidents can be prevented by an engaged and competent workforce.
Simon Willis, MQP’s managing director, said: ‘We are very proud of our safety record, but recognize there is more to do to achieve our goal of Zero Harm.’
To celebrate the 2 million man hours, everyone involved received a gift of an all-weather jacket.
Mr Willis added that the LTI achievement was a great end to an exciting year which saw Cliffe Hill host an industry visit by HSE chair Judith Hackett, and MQP top the Environment Agency CRC league table for energy reduction.
16 January 2012
Midland Quarry Products lead the way in the 'Carbon Reduction Commitment' performance league table
EARLY action taken by Midland Quarry Products (MQP) has put the company ahead of its peers in the Environment Agency’s 2010/11 Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) performance league table. The Agency scored the performance of MQP against the ‘Early Action’ metric of the CRC at 100% in its performance league table published on 8 November.
The league table positions recognize the steps taken by more than 1,300 companies to drive down their carbon emissions.
MQP demonstrated their ‘early action’ by gaining the Carbon Trust Standard, which is achieved not only on the evidence of a reduction in energy usage, but also for: a commitment to continual improvement by investing in projects to bring further reductions; educating and informing employees of energy demands and their part in reducing that demand; and the empowering of ‘energy champions’ within the workforce to identify and deliver opportunities.
High on the list of evidence was MQP’s uptake of the Carbon Trust-sponsored Carbon Management Energy Efficiency Report. The Carbon Trust commissioned Enviros to examine energy usage at MQP’s Cliffe Hill Quarry, in Leicestershire, and make recommendations in the areas of electricity consumption, mobile plant operations and asphalt production.
One year later Enviros followed up on their report and informed their findings to the Carbon Trust, identifying that their recommendations had been fully embraced by MQP and their implementation had led to an 11% reduction in emissions.
In addition to embracing recommendations by others, MQP have been active in developing and implementing opportunities identified by their own energy champions, such as reducing fuel consumption through driver awareness programmes and making step changes in asphalt plant efficiencies.
MQP’s managing director, Simon Willis, said: ‘This result reinforces our ambition to be the lowest-carbon producer in the industry and clearly shows the savings that can be achieved through hard work and good energy management.’
MQP are not only continuing to drive down their own carbon footprint, but are also determined to help their customers in reducing theirs. This year MQP emerged as the market leader in low-carbon asphalts and they also offer an online calculator which allows their customers to understand the embedded carbon in their products when delivered to site.
09 January 2012
MQP has recognised that in today’s world being a responsible low carbon producer is as important as being a reliable, efficient supplier.
Driving down the carbon emitted whilst producing building materials has to be one of the most important challenges for our Industry. It is morally right and is increasingly becoming good business as the price of hydrocarbons, green taxes and customer interest continue to rise.
CRCs are effectively an additional tax on the cost of using hydrocarbons and their associated carbon emissions. On one hand it’s an unwelcome expenditure which can’t be passed onto our customers in a difficult market, on the other, penalising businesses through their bottom line is a very powerful way of driving the innovation and changes necessary to make a difference.
For MQP, this result shows we are in great shape to manage our carbon demonstrated by an 11% reduction per tonne in emissions this year. It also reinforces our strategy to be the lowest carbon producer in the industry, and clearly shows the savings that can be achieved through hard work and good energy management.
Getting a 100% score on the early action table was a reassurance that we are on track with our strategy to drive down carbon emissions and gives us the opportunity to promote our green credentials to our customers and their clients.
The early action table gives us a crude benchmark of how prepared we are compared to other companies and raises the profile of carbon management. The next challenge is to demonstrate continuous improvement.
However, suppliers’ driving down emissions from production is only part of the equation. For our industry to truly drive down our carbon the market needs to move quickly to embrace Low Carbon alternatives to the traditional products.
MQP has invested in developing Low Carbon Asphalts and a Carbon Calculator for our customers to measure the carbon footprint of our products. Specifying these products is the next opportunity to make a step reduction in emissions.
09 January 2012
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