The voice of concrete products - British Precast

BRITISH PRECAST BEST PRACTICE AWARDS 2008
Health
and Safety
Award
Figure 1: Charcon
manufactures a range
of products for off-site
and hard landscaping
projects.
Charcon’s Croft Site, Leicestershire:
Moving goods safely
“A selfcompacting
concrete…has
eliminated the
need for
vibration of the
moulds and in
turn reduced
noise and the
potential of
hand–arm
vibration.”
The ‘Moving Goods Safely’ scheme was
introduced by employees at Charcon’s
Croft site in Leicestershire, a key
manufacturing facility, where new ways
of working were implemented to
improve production processes
significantly.
CONCRETE report
The plant has been operating for many years, producing
a range of specialist products for off-site solutions and
hard landscaping. The portfolio of products serves almost
every sector of the British construction industry, including
civil engineering and house building, as well as hard landscaping
for industrial, retail and commercial applications.
The company was awarded the British Precast Concrete
Federation ‘Health and Safety’ Award for its Moving
Goods Safely scheme. Pat Hastings, production director,
comments, “This award is testament to the good work of
our site safety committee and technical department working
together to carry out a thorough risk assessment
evaluation.
“Together, they reviewed current processes and recommended
ways to improve production, such as reduced
vehicle and mobile plant activity and a reduction of pedestrian
and mobile plant interaction, which has already
resulted in a 40% increase in productivity.”
Improving health and safety at Croft
Like every business within Aggregate Industries, Charcon
is committed to achieving the highest standards in health
and safety across its operational and manufacturing facilities.
This is no different at the Croft site, where health and
safety is paramount and continual improvement is actively
sought.
As part of its ongoing risk assessment programme, the
company identified that there was an excessive amount of
vehicle activity within the factory. It was also recognised
that pedestrian routes were not clearly identified. In addition,
routes for mobile plant and pedestrians frequently
crossed paths, creating a potentially dangerous situation
that had to be addressed.
The solution
A pedestrian route was identified around the perimeter of
the factory. Using handrails and chains at crossing points
meant that all visitors and delivery drivers would be immediately
segregated from mobile plant.
Due to the layout of the factory there was no easy, cost-
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Reproduced f ro m CONCRETE December 2008/January 2009 © The Concrete So c i e t y, 2008