Institute of Quarrying - West of England Branch

	Technical & Event Summaries 2010 May: The Mining Waste Directive Apr: Education, Training and Competence - IQ Vision of the Future Mar: Rock & Soil Slope Stabilisation Feb: Biodegradable Oils Jan: Annual General Meeting 2009 Dec: Member's Paper Evening Oct: Explosives Record Keeping Sept: Water Framework Directive Apr: Foam Dust Suppression Technology Jan: Annual General Meeting 2008 Nov: HSE Hot Topics presentation Sept: Mining limestone in Spain Apr: Quarry Restoration Mar: Calculating a carbon footprint for your operations Feb: Mine stabilisation at Coombe Down, Bath Jan: Annual General Meeting 2007 Nov: Uses of Recycled Materials Oct: Blasting Technology Sept: Field Trip Mar: Alternatives to Blasting Feb: European Standards for Asphalt Jan: Annual General Meeting 2006 Dec: Members Paper Evening Nov: Corporate Manslaughter Paper Sept: WBV (Whole Body Vibration) May: Worker Attitudes, Personality and Risk Propensity Apr: Confined Space Rescue in Quarries Mar: Asset Management in the Quarrying Industry 2005 Dec: Members Paper Evening Nov: The Aggregate Levy Oct: Tarmac’s Journey to Zero Tolerance on Health and Safety Sept: Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations May: Golf Day Apr: Further Education in the Quarrying Industry Mar: Energy Efficiency Measures Feb: Future for Recovered Fuel Oil (RFO) Jan: Annual General Meeting 2004 Dec: Members Paper Evening Nov: Water Act 2003 & Catchment Abstraction Mgmt Strategy (CAMS) Oct: Falconry Sep: A Safety Evening with the HSE Jun: Field Visit - Kempsford Quarry May: Marketing Sustainablility Apr: Explosive Regulations Mar: CDM regulations Feb: Working Time Directive Jan: AGM 2003 Dec: Members' Paper Evening Nov: Competition Act Oct: Aggregates Levy Funding for Wild Spaces Sep: Energy Conservation in Quarries May: The WRAP Aggregates Programme Apr: Hot Topics from the HSE Mar: New European Specifications for Aggregates Feb: Archaeology at Bestwell Quarry Jan: Safety for Life Seminar

8^th December - Member's Paper Evening

The year 2003 finished on a high note with an excellent turn out to support the annual members paper evening. Four high quality presentations were given on a range of interesting, informative and imaginative subjects.

Rob Dyer was awarded the Exxon prize of £250 cheque for his presentation entitled "Asphalt performance and testing made easy". Not only was the technical and educational content good but a difficult subject was well present in a simple format. Rob's talk covered the current specifications for highway materials, the testing regime for laid material and the types of equipment used.

Andrew Shakeshaft was awarded the Vic Callicott prize of £150 cheque, for his excellent and informative talk on the history of Whatley Rail. Covering from 1813 when the Somerset Stone Quarry Company began quarrying limestone in the East Mendips to today under Hanson's stewardship. Andrew gave a well structured and interesting presentation focused on the evolution of the rail infrastructure, as well as the quarry development, which has resulted in Whatley being one of Europe's largest rail linked quarries.

A Branch prize (£75) was presented to both Theo Biney and Steve Parfitt for their excellent presentations.

	Left to right - Chairman Steve Cole with prizewinners Andrew Shakeshaft, Rob Dyer, Theo Biney and Steve Parfitt.

Theo gave an interesting talk on the remedial work to address the instability issues caused by excessive mining of building stone in the Combe Down area of Bath. The preferred option for stabilisation is grouting the mines with foam concrete and with 600 house at risk of subsidence the estimated bill is £60 million. This is a major logistics and cost project that also has to contend complex legal, safety, ecological and archaeological issues.

Steve's presentation was on the Foster Yeoman National Vocational Training Centre evolved to meet the joint quarry industry and HSE committed objective of improving safety through raising employee competence standards. The initial phase to deliver level 2 NVQ's to mobile and process plant operatives and level 3 to engineering apprentices is progressing on target. The Centre and its team are now expanding their training to cover the contracting and rail operative and offering their services to external companies such as Wainwrights and Mendip Rail.