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Making contact: links with industry

First Contact
Although there are very few areas of England more than 20 miles away from an aggregates operation (see Industry Profile), the locations and contact points may not always be obvious. Where a works is known, it is policy for most good companies to include contact details on the sign board outside the main entrance, although this may not necessarily relate specifically to that plant.

Unfortunately, the contact details in Yellow Pages and similar directories are mainly for area sales offices, but they should be able to direct you to the appropriate point in the company. Trade directories relating to the industry (eg the Directory of Quarries and Quarry Equipment, published by Quarry Management - visit for latest publication details - www.qmj.co.uk ) may be available in the business sections of some of the larger city libraries, but they are not always up to date copies and are relatively expensive.

Alternatively, for information on local sites, prospective visitors could contact one of the trade federations which, between them represent at least 95% of the quarrying industry:

Quarry Products Association (www.qpa.org )
British Aggregates Association (www.british-aggregates.com )
Stone Federation Great Britain (www.stone-federationgb.org.uk )

or the independent educational charity which produced this report:

National Stone Centre (www.nationalstonecentre.org.uk )

Prior to the introduction of the Quarry Regulations 1999, by law companies had to designate a specific person ('quarry manager') responsible for each quarry. Now 'the operator' (usually the company management) has this responsibility and thus contact is apparently to the outsider, more diffuse. Individuals responsible for specific plants or tasks tend to change with remarkable rapidity, indeed, over the last few years there have been an exceptional number of changes of control of companies themselves, followed by wholesale reorganisation within companies. In many cases, the appropriate person is say a production or operations manager at area level.

The appropriate contact usually has a large number of responsibilities on and off site (safety being a top priority). As a result they are frequently away from the site offices and contact by mobile phone is often the norm.

In any event, there should always be someone at a site in working hours who is aware of the correct person to contact. Outside working hours, most larger sites are patrolled by security personnel. Most sites have a reception office (not always staffed) or alternatively the first point of contact at smaller units may be the weighbridge operator. The safety regime in the industry is now extremely strict. If there is no-one immediately evident in the main entry area, do not be tempted to venture further, eg into 'hard hat' designated areas.

The rules about who can enter sites, who can conduct visitors and site induction training have become much more stringent recently (see Health and Safety).

Remember that in addition to quarries, in urban areas there may be ready-mixed concrete, concrete product or asphalt plants, rail reception depots and marine landing wharves operated by the industry.

Contact a company via the local site:

- By personal contact
- By personal visit or telephone to site office (do not enter other areas unsupervised)
- Using general or specialist trade directories
- Via company website/email
- Trade associations or National Stone Centre
- Seek name of the unit or area/cluster manager

In most cases, requests for visits will be well received. The initial contact should be followed up by a meeting with company staff. A reconnaissance visit prior to the group visit is absolutely essential.

- Meet to discuss logistics and possibilities with company staff
- Always seek a reconnaissance visit prior to the group visit

Timing
Planning restrictions often limit local hours of working, but at many sites they are typically 6.30 or 7am to about 4.30pm Monday to Friday with maintenance staff only, at weekends, often restricted to Saturday until say 12.30pm. However, outside these hours apart from two weeks around Christmas and New Year, there is often someone on site at some point every day. Many sites have a set works holiday break.

It is not possible to give advice on the best time to contact company staff as practice varies considerably; as general rule, quarry companies tend to operate an 'early' day.

Blasting schedules may influence timing of visits; these vary greatly but are often a number of times a week and usually between 8.30 and noon.

See also: Making contact: Links with educational bodies