Deaths spark search for quarry sites

The hunt is on for unregistered quarries, with many believed to be tucked away in rural areas like Wairarapa.

The Health and Safety Council for Mining/Extractives (quarrying) is seeking public help to find unregistered quarries after four deaths in the sector so far this year.

Communications adviser Brendon Burns said it is thought there may be 500, "mostly in rural areas like the Wairarapa which we want to reach".

This month, Worksafe NZ said new regulations would come into force from April, when all operators will be required to have a certificate of competence [CoC].

The certificate will show that a quarry manager has undertaken relevant education and training, and meets requirements for safe supervision of a quarrying operation.

Two of the four sites where deaths have occurred this year were not registered, including Heathstock Haulage in North Canterbury.

Owner Murray Taylor, 56, did not hold the required CoC and was buried beneath more than 1000 tonnes of rocks when an overhanging cliff-face gave way at the quarry in June.

In March an incident at Gordons Valley Lime killed worker Scott James Baldwin, 43. Worksafe has laid charges against that company and the matter is before the court.

Worksafe has also been investigating Tauranga's Oropi quarry after Tane Hill-Ormsby, 24, was crushed after being thrown from the rock cutter he was operating in April.

Mario Joffrey Lelinam, meanwhile, died while working at Waikaia gold mine in Southland last month.

Chris Baker, chairman of the mining/extractives sector Health and Safety Council, MinEx, admitted it had been a bad year. "We had four quarry industry fatalities in the past year and one in an alluvial gold mine. Two of those quarry fatalities occurred at small, unregistered sites."

Mr Baker said MinEx and WorkSafe had been working to identify all the smaller quarries around the country -- but many were still off the radar.

"We know of around 500 registered quarries around New Zealand but there may be twice that many. These can present the most risk.

"Small unregistered quarries may be on the back of farms, forestry blocks or a rural property. While the owners may not be generating a lot of aggregate or lime, they still use machinery and sometimes explosives which demand proper health and safety practices," Mr Baker said.

Roger Parton, the CEO of the Aggregate and Quarry Association, said Wellington region's roading projects have increased demand for aggregate.

"Identifying unregistered quarries and ensuring they are up to speed with the new health and safety requirements is one important step we can take to reduce risk."

Mr Parton said unregistered quarries which follow sound health and safety practices have nothing to fear and everything to gain from embracing the new requirements.

"Some unregistered operators may be operating perfectly safely.

"Others are operating in a way that is just plain reckless and a tragedy is quite likely to follow. It's those we most need to identify and either help bring up to speed or see shut down."

Mining spokesman for trade union E tu Ged O'Connell said the deaths were tough to swallow. They had all been classified as mining deaths, but four had been in the quarry industry.

"Really, with great respect to a lot of the quarry people, they wouldn't know good practice or best practice. They haven't been regulated or overseen for a decade or more. So there's some sympathy, but the sympathy rapidly disintegrates when you talk about workers' lives."

Anyone who owns or knows of a smaller quarry which may not yet have been identified by MinEx or WorkSafe can email les@minex.org.nz