Displaying items by tag: Safety

Tanzania: The South Africa-based National Occupational Safety Association (NOSA) has awarded Tanga Cement its international award for safety. The Daily News newspaper has reported that NOSA considers participant companies from all industries across Africa. Tanga Cement has participated in NOSA since 2018. Managing director Reinhardt Stuart said that the achievement was especially significant as the producer retained its rating as a ‘distinguished’ class company among NOSA awarded companies.

UK: Cemex UK says that use of MP Connect contractor and haulier cards will be mandatory across its operations by the start of 2022. The Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary is presently rolling out the cards in its London and Southern ready-mix locations. It previously launched them at aggregates sites in its Central and Southern business areas. The system is now live at 39 sites and is used over 2000 times weekly, according to the company. It said that the initiative will help to streamline internal processes and enhance management of hauliers and contractors, legislative and site requirements are complied with.

Supply chain director Dave Hart said “Safety is Cemex’s number-one priority and we are always looking for ways to make our processes in this area more streamlined and effective. Implementation of the MP Connect system across our business will ensure that all drivers meet the standards set through checks of qualifications and competencies, while also providing them with more support and making their visits to different sites easier.” Cemex said that this will ‘enable the business to continually raise standards and lead the industry in safety and compliance.’

The MP Connect system was launched by the Mineral Products Qualifications Council (MPQC) in late 2020. It is intended to provide a single unified record of driver and operator working achievements that, when presented on a reader at site, can be viewed by logistics personnel. The information on the card then allows the logistics team to grant access, safe in the knowledge that the correct safety criteria applicable to the site, have been met by the person carrying the card.

Zimbabwe: The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has lifted a prohibition order which it issued to Livetouch Investments subsidiary Diamond Cement after the death of a worker on 6 March 2020 at the company’s 0.4Mt/yr Redcliff grinding plant. The incident brought to light “sub-standard safety and security arrangements.” The Chinese-owned company had also failed to register any employees under the NSSA’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund (WCIF) and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).

The New Zimbabwe newspaper has reported that the NSSA lifted the prohibition order in mid-September 2020 after the company was found to have complied with its registration and safety requirements. NSSA communications officer Tendai Mutseyekwa said, “After a joint visit by the NSSA’s Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate and the Compliance Inspectorate, the company registered with the NSSA schemes. They subsequently settled their subscriptions for the two NSSA schemes from the effective date of 4 April 2017, when the company started operating.”

A police investigation into the fatality continues.

Spain: HeidelbergCement subsidiary HeidelbergCement Hispania has informed clients that its plants remain open ‘in order to continue to provide required products and services, combining this availability with the mandatory security measures.’ Deliveries and collections continue, subject to the requirements of its Prevention and Safety protocol. In the interests of safety, HeidelbergCement Hispania’s service team has replaced most site visits with additional telephone services.

Mexico: Cemex has implemented more than 50 new safety protocols to minimise the risk of coronavirus spread in its cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates operations. Cemex said that it recognised ‘the importance of the construction industry in supporting the maintenance and service of essential infrastructure required to face the pandemic and contribute to the economy,’ and would resume or continue all possible operations in line with the regulations of the countries in which it operates.

“The health and safety of its employees is the company’s number one priority,” said Cemex. “Among the protocols implemented are the company’s Personal Hygiene Protocol, Physical Distancing Protocol, Screening at Workplace Protocol, Cemex Truck Drivers Protocol, Workplace Cleaning Protocol, and Commuting To and From Work Protocol,” all developed in line with advice from national and international bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cemex has leveraged its Cemex Go digital platform to limit physical contact and ‘protect employees, customers and suppliers.’

UK: Breedon Group has suspended production at all UK sites except operations that ‘serve critical supply needs,’ such as those of the Hope, Derbyshire, cement plant. The group’s Ireland operations also continue, ‘pending further guidance from the Irish government.’

Breedon Group says that it has taken the temporary measures ‘to ensure the safety and wellbeing of colleagues, subcontractors, customers and communities.’

India: Dalmia Bharat has suspended operations across its entire integrated cement production apparatus, equalling 26.5Mt/yr capacity, as of 26 March 2020. The move is a response to a government ordnance of 25 March 2020 imposing a 21-day lockdown on the whole of India due to the coronavirus. The company will implement the closure ‘until further notice,’ according to Mint News.

Dalmia Bharat CEO and managing director Mahendra Singhi said, “While cement production is continuous in nature and the plants have requisite permission from both the state and the central governments to operate with minimum employees during the lockdown, Dalmia Bharat will only carry out mandatory activities required for safety and security of the plants in the larger interest of its staff.”

Coronavirus had claimed 13 lives in India on 27 March 2020.

Australia: A report commissioned by the Queensland Ministry of Mines has investigated the causes of all 47 deaths in mines and quarries in the state between 2000 and 2019, concluding that systemic, organisational, supervision or training failures caused the deaths in almost all cases. The report proposed that the state government should require quarry operators to use the Serious Accident Frequency Rate (SAFR) as their metric for health and safety monitoring, calling the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) unreliable because it is prone to manipulation, being “a measure of how the industry manages injuries after they have occurred. It is possible, therefore, to reduce the LTIFR without making the industry safer,” said the report’s author Sean Brady.

In the Australian 2019 financial year, ending 31 July 2019, six people died in Queensland’s quarries and mine.

France: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Ciments Calcia has announced a planned investment of Euro30m of upgrades in early 2021 to its 1.0Mt/yr integrated Couvrot plant in Marne department. L’Union Ardennes newspaper has reported that the upgrades will be ‘process improvements’ to grinding and energy consumption rather than expansions to the plant’s capacity. HeidelbergCement director Didier Faure said the group wants to turn the Couvrot plant into its ‘leading site in Western Europe.’ Faure also called for improvements to safety procedures after three people were injured on site in 2019 – up by 50% from two in 2018.

Turkey: Germany-based safety specialist Schmersal announced its entry into business at a new branch in Istanbul, Turkey on 21 January 2020. In partnership with Satech Safety Technology, it will supply its full range of products and comprehensive services to the Turkish and Azerbaijani cement sectors. Bariş Yücel, managing director of Schmersal Turkey, said, "Schmersal is already a well-known manufacturer on the Turkish market. Our goal is to become customers’ first choice supplier.”