With the school holidays here, young people will be looking for excitement and places to hang out with their friends.

I would like to appeal to parents to ensure that their youngsters are not tempted to enter local quarries uninvited.

Over the past two years, six young people have died through falls or drowning at the sites of former mineral workings.

While some hazards are obvious, others are less so. The water in quarries can, for example, be icy cold and deep, with unexpected currents and obstacles hidden beneath the water. Quarry edges can be unstable. Caves dug into sand stockpiles can collapse on you.

As part of our annual campaign, the Mineral Products Association has launched a Facebook page Stay Safe...Stay Out of Quarries, which highlights not just what can happen if you venture into a quarry without permission but also the huge impact that the death of a young person in a quarry accident has on their friends and families.

The video is about the deaths of Jay Harris and Ryan Walker, two teenagers who died in quarry accidents last year. We also have a YouTube video under the same title. They are resources we hope parents and other members of the community will use to help deliver our warning.

So our message is: Please Stay Safe...Stay Out of quarries.

Elizabeth Clements Mineral Products Association