Modern Quarrying

October - November 2015

MODERN QUARRYING

from strength to strength and the calibre

of speakers has improved considerably as

have the venues. Pienaar has asked that

members visit the Aspasa website for

the regional meeting dates, and try and

attend. “It’s a great networking exercise

and we update our members on the lat-

est legislation and challenges we’re expe-

riencing in the industry.”

Better fall protection

New fall protection regulations have

placed a large onus on designers and

builders of structures and equipment to

include a high level of in-built protection

to prevent fall-related accidents.

Pienaar says the regulations call for

attention to the provision of safer access

to heights on structures and machines.

“This is a welcome addition to eliminat-

ing injuries in the workplace and will

be particularly beneficial in the quarry

industry.”

The regulation makes it the duty of

designers to ensure that applicable stan-

dards are complied with in the design and

construction of equipment and buildings

to provide safer access to the workplace

and prescribes that a risk-based approach

be adopted to overcome hazards.

“By paying closer attention to guard-

rails, stairs, ladders and other access

points, we believe the regulation will

close any loopholes that may previously

have existed that allowed unsafe access

to be built into machines and structures.

Now it requires that much thought be

given to access to work areas at height.

“Instead of rung ladders, for exam-

ple, designers may be able to integrate a

stairway or provide additional handrails

to make access safer. In this way it effec-

tively reduces future risks and completely

removes the potential for falls in future.

“This is in line with developments

around the world where questions are

being asked about existing safety stan-

dards and how to improve upon them

to take the workplace to the next level of

safety. In terms of fall protection, a lot is

being done around the world to improve

codes and standards dealing with require-

ments to prevent falling from heights,” he

says.

In addition to the new standard, com-

panies are also being advised to look

towards countries with similar quarrying

techniques for additional HSE input.

Countries like Australia have pushed hard

for practical standards that can help pre-

vent injuries. Its standards, for example,

provide valuable input on guardrails,

stairs and stepladders.

By applying similar standards and

best practices, designers are in a position

to build access platforms at height to

the correct specifications using suitable

materials that will dramatically reduce

injuries in future. These international

standards provide technical informa-

tion and common sense applications

that can be used in additional to local

requirements.

“We therefore urge our members and

all those involved in the quarrying indus-

try to become familiar with requirements

of regulations and to look at related

global standards to ensure that future

construction work and procurement of

equipment is in line with requirements.

Not only will it prevent future legal prob-

lems, but it will assist our quarries to pre-

vent accidents and fatalities in future,”

Pienaar urges.

Negating risks

Responsible people within sand and

aggregate quarries in South Africa should

look beyond health and safety compli-

ance requirements, to implementing

custom requirements that are able to

reduce hazards within their own specific

operations.

“By simply using common sense and

adopting a stepped approach to iden-

tification of risks, health and safety (HS)

officers can play a large role in preventing

accidents and making our quarries safer,”

he says.

For this reason HS officers should be

given scope to evaluate and re-evaluate

each process in a quarry and observe work

in progress to try to identify potential

problem areas. Also to gauge the workers’

uptake of guidelines and whether they

are using the correct PPE at all times.

“Aspasa has in place one of the most

advanced health and safety systems in

the southern African industry and all

members are required to comply with

the systems and standards. In order to

ensure compliance, companies are also

subjected to annual audits that are con-

ducted by an independent auditor to

FACE TO FACE WITH

ASPASA

ensure legal compliance.

“Yet despite this, we still urge our

members to take an additional long, hard

look at their operations and evaluate each

step of their processes with health and

safety in mind. If, for example, the respon-

sible person observes that a walkway may

be slippery when wet and poses a risk of

falling, then it needs to be evaluated and

if necessary steps need to be taken to pre-

vent an accident.

“Evaluation should follow a stepped

approach based on risk management

principals, ie identification of risk, assess

the actual risk, put steps in place to con-

trol to eliminate the risk and then eval-

uate the effectiveness of the measures,”

Pienaar says.

He explains that the above scenario

may be handled as follows:

1. The risk of a slippery floor is identified

and may cause a person to fall to the

floor or over the guardrail.

2. This is assessed as a serious risk as

injuries may occur and control mea-

sures therefore need to be taken.

3. As a result non-slip strips are applied

to the floor and are tested in simu-

lated wet conditions.

4. If deemed to be a suitable remedy, no

further action may need to be taken;

however, it will need to be re-evalu-

ated in real wet conditions.

Similarly, the responsible HS officer needs

to look at PPE and assess whether addi-

tional protection is required in certain

areas. For example where overhead con-

veyors may pose a risk of falling objects, a

hardhat will be a requirement by law, but

additional eye protection may be wise as

debris from the conveyor may enter a per-

son’s eye and cause short-term injury or

long-term eye problems.

“Therefore in that particular applica-

tion eyewear may become a requirement

for the company even although it is not

required by law. The same applies for

hearing protection, fall arrest equipment,

footwear, etc,” he says.

“Often we need to stand back and

take an impartial look at our operations.

If we have not had an incident in a certain

part of a plant, it may not be that it is safe;

it may simply be that we are lucky and

the area is an accident waiting to happen.

We therefore implore our members and

all involved in the quarrying industry to