HR for Stone quarries: what to set up first

Think of a stone quarry on any weekday at six. The breaker operator has been at the bench since five, working oversize boulders with the hydraulic hammer. Dumpers rumble down the haul road. At the gate, a line of tippers waits for the weighbridge kata to open. The plant in-charge is listening to the jaw crusher for the sound of a choke. HR here is not paper. It is knowing who is where, and who can stand in.

What follows is the order in which a quarry owner might put people systems in place, from the most urgent. It suits a quarry that cuts, crushes and screens aggregate and relies on daily-wage labour.

Customers decide in that hour whether to wait or to drive to the next quarry. Name the loader operator, the weighbridge clerk, the relief for each and the person who decides when both are out. Write this on a board at the gate. Check it every morning for a fortnight. You will learn which village bus runs late and which operator is always short of diesel at the pump.

Grade 1, hopper and feeder hand: feeds the apron feeder, clears loose stone from the grizzly, reports belt noise.
Grade 2, screen hand: reads a blinded vibrating screen, changes mesh with the fitter, grades 20 mm and 10 mm by eye.
Grade 3, crusher operator: sets the jaw gap, starts and stops the line in sequence, clears a choke with the lock-out done.
Grade 4, plant in-charge: reads throughput, schedules liner changes, signs off lower grades.
Signature and date for each skill on the line, not in the office.
Pay step for each grade, posted at the plant board.

Each step carries a few tasks the person must show. Pay a little more for each. Teach on shut-down days and in early morning. Our learning and development page for stone quarries goes deeper.

Daily-wage hands hold the quarry together: stone breakers, loaders, helpers, tractor-trolley men. Take muster at the gate with a tick-sheet and a headcount by the mate. Keep a return list of people who have worked three weeks or more, with their phone number, village and usual work. When the rains stop the pit, set an idle-day rule that is told in advance: who gets some payment, who is asked to go home, who is recalled first when blasting resumes.

Respirators, ear-muffs, safety boots and helmets are issued once and forgotten. Keep a list with each person's name, what was issued and when. Check it monthly and replace what is worn. The list will also show the crew that goes through masks fastest, which is usually the crew nearest the crusher discharge.

A disputed load damages trust faster than a late truck. Number the weighbridge slips, have the clerk sign a daily summary, and let another person tally the summary against the dumper log each week. Change the checker every month. This protects the clerk as much as the owner.

The mate who hears complaints is often the subject. Name another listener: the plant in-charge, or the owner on a fixed weekday. See the grievance and disciplinary page for a plain way to do it.

Most quarries run on a handful of people whose work is never described. The fitter who changes jaw liners and swaps the screen mesh. The drill operator who sets the bench holes. The shot-firer or blaster, where the quarry uses explosives, whose appointment and records follow the licence conditions. The weighbridge clerk. The diesel store keeper who issues to dumpers against a log. Write one line on what each does, who covers him and what he needs to learn from the previous holder. When any of them leaves, the line becomes the handover note.

Season matters too. In dry months demand peaks and the haul road dries to dust. In the rains the pit holds water, the dewatering pump becomes the most important machine and the workshop is full. Plan recruitment before the peak and training in the slow weeks. A calendar on the office wall helps the owner and the supervisor think a quarter ahead.

• Gate muster and deployment sheet.
• Plant ladder sign-offs.
• Gear issue list by name.
• Weighbridge summary, signed and tallied.
• Joining papers for each regular, filed as the documentation page suggests.

Add a step a fortnight. The wider mining and quarrying view is on the mining and quarrying hub. Name the machines on every ladder sheet: apron feeder, jaw crusher, cone, vibrating screen, belt conveyor, stockpile bay. Add the dumper drivers and the breaker operator to the despatch roster.