Ideas pave the way

On 27^th March 2009 the Mines and Quarries Employers’ Liability Insurance Association awarded the winners of the current sponsorship prizes Work-Safety-Health at the gallery of the Hanover Herrenhäuser Gärten. The event was attended by about 300 guests from politics, industry and society. Already for the 12^th time ideas concerning industrial safety and health protection were rewarded.

The ideas competition for creative practical solutions to improve the work environment, endowed with 100 000 €, has developed into an attractive constant. Including this year’s award a total of almost 7000 people have taken part with more than 3500 contributions. The constant high participation over years clearly shows that the sponsorship prize has not lost its attractiveness. “The contributions are distinguished by the fact that they are prepared by the employees at the companies, i.  e. they are developed by practicians”, said Dipl.-Ing Helmut Ehnes, head of the Joint Business Division Prevention of the Mines and Quarries Employers’ Liability Insurance Association. “The sponsorship prize Work – Safety – Health makes sure that these ideas are also of benefit to other companies. It has proved to be a multiplier and is very much in demand in practice where the applicability of the contributions submitted can best be judged.”

Pass on good ideas

The aim of the sponsorship prize is to collect good solutions in the raw material and mining sector, to publish them, thus making them available beyond the factory limits to all people. It is to trigger initiatives and help ideas to be implemented that otherwise perhaps would never be implemented. Ehnes: “If prevention is understood as a chance for the company because of this competition, an important step has been taken. Prevention as a deliberate and active thought in everyday working life, the anticipation of possible dangerous situations and thinking about how they can be avoided or defused will prevent accidents and occupational diseases, will spare people pain and harm and, in the end will save the company money.”

This award includes one of the highest prize moneys for industrial safety competitions in Europe. Its concept is exemplary also beyond the borders of Germany. The prizes are awarded in various categories. For example, prizes for new solutions of safety problems, concepts for the organization of safe flows of work, company activities for more health at the workplace as well as ideas to improve road safety will be awarded.

The prizewinners in 2009

The juries of both trade associations this year again were spoilt for choice, i.  e. to determine the prizewinners with so many high-quality contributions.

In the category “Safety engineering” Henning KrebberHortmann, employee of Hülskens GmbH & Co. KG, was awarded the prize by the Quarries Trade Association for the development of a device for the “Safe repair of idler rollers of conveyor belts”. ­Employees at RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH developed an “Illumination of the floor space of industrial trucks”. This was a valuable contribution to avoid accidents. They were awarded in the category “Engineering” by the Mining Trade Association.

The prizewinners in the category “Organization – Motivation” of the Quarries Trade Association are the employees of Exxon
Mobil Production Deutschland GmbH for their initiative “New people in the plant: Systematic minimization of risks due to the work of outside companies”. The Mining Trade Association awarded Gordon Büttner, employee of HeidelbergCement AG, Obrigheim mine, for the development of an “Optimized ­
guiding system of escape routes” of the routes of the gypsum mine.

The Quarries Trade Association awarded the employees of IFF Weimar e.V. in the category “Health protection”. They developed “DeSi – an innovative tool for noise prevention”. In the same category the Mining Trade Association awarded Dr. ­
Dieter Gobrecht and Hans Brod from the Werra works of K+S Kali GmbH for their “Swivelling operator’s platform on tractor shovels”.

The Quarries Trade Association additionally awarded a manufacturer prize. It was to geo-konzept GmbH for the development of “Quarry6 – High-tech during raw material extraction”. The Mining Trade Association awarded a prize to Benjamin Künne, trainee at the German Company for the Construction and Operation of Waste Repositories, final disposal site for radioactive waste at Morsleben, for the design of a “Mobile warning system” – the project for the final exam.

In addition the jury awarded the employees of both trade associations various special prizes for contributions worth receiving an award in addition to the above prizewinners.