Displaying items by tag: Safety
Spain: FYM-HeidelbergCement has reached a record two years without an accident at its Malaga cement plant. The milestone also includes no accidents for subcontractors working at the site. The company has operated a ‘Zero Accident’ program since 2000 that has focused on improving the safety culture for all staff.
Germany: HeidelbergCement has highlighted occupational safety and research into CO2 reduction as priorities in its sustainability report for 2017. It reduced its accident frequency rate for employees with at least one lost working day per 1,000,000 hours across cement, ready-mixed concrete and aggregates to 1.8 in 2017 from 2.2 in 2016.
“This represents a significant improvement. A large number of locations have now been accident-free for several years, while others have seen drastically reduced accident rates. Nevertheless, serious accidents still occurred in 2017. We will therefore further intensify our efforts to prevent accidents on a permanent basis,” said Bernd Scheifele, the chairman of HeidelbergCement.
The building materials producer has also singled out its commitment to reduce its specific CO2 emissions by 30% in 2030 compared with 1990. It plans to support this by continually increasing the proportion of alternative raw materials and fuels and, wherever possible, to make its production processes more efficient. In addition, HeidelbergCement has invested in research programmes on carbon capture and its utilisation as a raw material. In 2017, it spent Euro141m on research and technology, an increase of around Euro24m from 2016.
Following HeidelbergCement’s acquisition of Italcementi in 2016 its CO2 emissions have increased. Its specific net CO2 emissions (per tonne of cementitious material) rose by 1.9% year-on-year to 609kg Co2/t in 2017 from 598 kg Co2/t in 2016. Its overall proportion of alternative fuels has also decreased slightly dropping to 20.8% from 21.4%. However, its specific energy consumption for cement and clinker continued to fall in 2017.
Brazil: The Public Labour Ministry has signed an agreement with producers to reduce the standard weight of cement sacks sold locally to 25kg from 50kg. 33 cement producers, the local competition authority (CADE), the national cement industry union (SNIC), the Brazilian Portland Cement Association (ABCP) and Labour minister Ronalo Fleury all signed the arrangement, according to Surgiu. The agreement has been planned to reduce workplace accidents involving cement despatches.
The agreement establishes a deadline of 31 December 2028 for companies to adapt to the new standard, after which period only cement specifically for export can be over the 25kg limit, with all other sacks over 25kg to cease being sold from 1 January 2029. The agreement follows four years of negotiations.
UK: Hanson UK’s sustainability report for 2017 shows that its CO2 emissions per tonne of product have fallen by 7.2% to reach the lowest level for five years. However, the subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement may face issues meeting its target of a 10% reduction by 2020 from its 2010 figures as its CO2 emissions from production have rise by 5.7% since 2010.
Overall, the company described 2017 as a year of ‘solid’ progress. It passed its 2020 targets for reducing both mains water use and waste to landfill. The number of lost time injuries remained static at 21, but the frequency rate was down on the prior year and there was a three-month unbroken spell without a lost time injury. The building materials producer also launched HeidelbergCement’s Sustainability Commitments 2030, including a set of targets for the group to achieve by 2020.
US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of the 2018 Safety Innovation Awards. The awards recognise creative safety-enhancing projects in the cement industry. Winners were determined by a panel of judges that evaluated submissions from across the country for milling/grinding, distribution, pyroprocessing and general facility.
Cemex USA’s Miami plant Florida won the milling/grinding category with its new process to load ball mills. The site developed a new mill loading process that uses a small hopper for grinding media, and an incline transport system with buckets to convey the grinding media directly to the mill. This new system eliminates the interaction between the employee and the machine, reduces the number of people needed to load the mill from five to two, and eliminates the need for employees to stand on top of the mill. This new system also improves mill loading rates from seven drums/hr to 30 drums/hr.
Cemex USA’s Houston operations in Texas won the pyroprocessing category for it use of drones for hazardous inspections. It has implemented a system for using protected air drones to inspect enclosed and confined spaces. Visual inspections of enclosed areas (preheater towers, tanks, silos, process ducts, etc) normally require intrusive equipment, long delays for system cooling, and placement of employees on scaffolding in confined spaces. These drones utilise an outer protective cage to minimize the risk of breakage due to impact. The drone program has eliminated the risk of putting staff in confined spaces, reduced the cost of scaffolding, and reduced the overall time for inspections.
LafargeHolcim US’ Corporate Program in Chicago won the distribution category for its X-Factor barge cover. It has developed a process for barge cover removal that reduces the risk of falls from employees stepping on to the barge. The X-Factor barge cover, developed over the last three years with a contractor, uses the latest technology and a no-touch design to allow a crane operator to perform all functions associated with barge lid handling without additional human assistance. Barge workers will no longer be required to step onto the barge to remove or replace barge covers, eliminating a potential fall risk.
Ash Grove Cement’s Louisville plant in Nebraska won the general facility category for its use of magnets as duct hole patches. Ash Grove has developed a hole-patch technique using magnets. Magnetic patches are quick, simple, and effective at preventing or limiting the release of materials from holes created in ducts caused by abrasion, leading to a cleaner plant, reduced slip, trip and fall risks, and fewer related Mine Safety and Health Administration housekeeping citations.
Cemex USA’s Brooksville in Florida also won the general facility category for its filters moved to ground level project. It redesigned the blower housings to move the filter from the top of the blower housings to an easily accessible location at ground level. The redesigned blower housing eliminates the need for employees to climb up and down a ladder, reducing overexertion and fall hazard.
Mondi wins three Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers’ Association awards for plant safety
15 June 2017US: Three Mondi Industrial Bags plants in North America have won awards for plant safety from the Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers’ Association (PSSMA). The winning plants were Louisville in Kentucky, Arcadia in Louisiana and Salt Lake City in Utah. The Arcadia and Louisiana plants also achieved zero incidents rates in 2016. The awards were presented at the organisation’s seminar in Vancouver, Washington in April 2017.
PCA names leaders in safety and sustainability
10 May 2017US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of its Chairman’s Safety Performance, Safety Innovation and Energy and Environment Awards. The awards recognise outstanding safety performance in the manufacturing of Portland cement, creative safety-enhancing projects in the cement industry and outstanding environmental and community relations respectively.
“The facilities recognised today are to be congratulated for their safety achievements,” said Allen Hamblen, PCA chairman and president and chief executive officer of CalPortland, in relation to the Safety Performance Awards.
Winners of the 2017 PCA Chairman’s Safety Performance Awards:
Category: Less than 226,000 hours
Buzzi Unicem USA – Chattanooga, Tennessee
LafargeHolcim US – Morgan, Utah
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. – Tehachapi, California
Category: 226,001 - 289,000 hours
Ash Grove Cement – Foreman, Arkansas
GCC Permian – Odessa, Texas
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. – Leeds, Alabama
Category: 289,001 - 563,000 hours
Cemex USA – Brooksville, Florida
Cemex USA – New Braunfels, Texas
Martin Marietta Materials – New Braunfels, Texas
Winners of the 2017 Safety Innovation Awards:
Milling/Grinding
Ash Grove Cement, Montana City, Montana
Pyroprocessing
Cemex USA, Balcones, Texas
Distribution
CalPortland Cement Terminal, Portland, Oregon
LafargeHolcim US, Corporate Program, Chicago
Winners of the 2017 Energy and Environment Awards:
Energy Efficiency
Cemex USA Construction Materials, Pacific, LLC, Victorville, California
Environmental Performance
Cemex USA Construction Materials, Pacific, LLC, Victorville, California
Land Stewardship
Continental Cement Company/Green America Recycling, Hannibal, Missouri
Outreach Winner
Mitsubishi Cement Corporation, Lucerne Valley, California
Canada: Lafarge Canada has clarified its role in supporting the Vision Zero road safety campaign following a city council meeting in Edmonton. The construction materials producer explained that its focus is on health and safety and that it is not intending to use its trucks to monitor the speed of other drivers. In a statement the company explained that as one of the largest trucking companies in Edmonton it has dozens of concrete trucks moving around the Greater Edmonton Area, interacting with vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Due to this the Zero Vision campaign caught its attention and it expressed its interest in supporting it including speed reduction measures and reducing heavy acceleration and braking in its fleet.
Following the meeting in mid-April 2017 local press including the Edmonton Sun newspaper reported remarks by Bruce Willmer, regional vice-president for Lafarge Canada that on-truck cameras could potentially be used to record speeding vehicles and that this information could be passed on to the authorities. The comments received a mixed response in the local media.
Lafarge Africa launches academy for truck drivers
18 July 2016Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has launched an academy to train truck driver safety and fleet management. The launch event took place at the Ewekoro cement plant in Ogun state. The logistics academy is a follow-up project to a road safety project and drivers academy previously established by the cement producer to ensure sound safety culture, process efficiency and good performance among truck drivers, according to the Nigerian Guardian newspaper.
Cemex Puerto Rico fined US$292,000 for Mine Safety and Health Administration violations
13 July 2016Puerto Rico: The US Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has fined Cemex Puerto Rico US$291,722 in penalties relating to 119 citations and orders issued for safety violations at the company’s Ponce Cement Plant and Cantera Canas mines. The cement producer must now implement enhanced safety measures at its three MSHA-regulated facilities in Puerto Rico.
The MSHA issued the citations and orders for a wide variety of violations, including obstructed and unsafe travel ways and workplaces, safety defects on mobile equipment and machinery, and unguarded machine parts. The settlement was approved on 7 June 2016.
In the settlement Cemex agrees to hire an independent external safety consultant knowledgeable about surface mining and cement plant operations to conduct annual, wall-to-wall employee safety audits of these three facilities over the next four years. It will also arrange for the MSHA’s Educational Field and Small Mine Services to teach a mine safety course and cement plant safety course to safety directors, assistant safety directors, area supervisors and foremen.