Now a recovery operation for buried digger driver

The digger driver buried under 1000-tonnes of rubble is Murray Taylor, the owner of the company that runs the limestone quarry.

Canterbury Police have confirmed the search for 56-year-old Mr Taylor, an owner of Heathstock Haulage, is now a recovery operation

A 25-strong team led by Canterbury Police with specialist support from Alpine Cliff Rescue, WorkSafe NZ and Mines Engineering will continue the operation today, after the incident about 10.40am yesterday at the Heathstock Haulage quarry on Limeworks Rd.

A cliff-face collapsed, with huge rocks, some weighing as much as 15-tonne, landing on Mr Taylor's 65-tonne digger.

Mr Taylor, a life-long North Canterbury man, lives at nearby Balcairn with his wife Jill.

A Waikari local, who didn't wish to be named, said Mr Taylor was a "decent, hard-working bloke".

"He's going to be very well missed in the community," she said.

"A very respected man, and was always helping others wherever he could."

When the local service station burned to the ground in 1996, Mr Taylor brought a digger to help with the recovery.

"That was the sort of guy he was."

Mr Taylor was company director of Heathstock Haulage which operated out of the Limeworks Rd quarry.

He also operated the lime operation from the quarry which he leased from Hurunui District Council.
WorkSafe NZ is also at the scene, along with Canterbury Police and Victim Support.

"They are working with and supporting the man's family. This is a very distressing and emotional time for them, his colleagues and employer".

Quarries can be just as dangerous to work in as mines and tighter safety regulations are needed on sites, says trade union president Helen Kelly.

Safety changes were made in 2013 in the mining industry following the 2010 Pike River tragedy when 29 men lost their lives, but quarries were deliberately left out of the changes, Ms Kelly told Paul Henry this morning.

While quarries were originally included in the bill, "they were excluded when the law was passed and those laws would have allowed workers on the site to have day-to-day responsibilities," Ms Kelly said.

"And the Prime Minister admits it was because of lobbying."

WorkSafe officials could not be on site every day, but workers were and if an elected representative was trained enforce safety laws it would empower workers, Ms Kelly said.

"It's not too hard to allow workers to participate."Why not empower them ... what is the worst that could happen."

New Zealand quarries had an accident rate six times higher than the United Kingdom, Ms Kelly said.

There had been two deaths this year already in quarry accidents and Ms Kelly said she hoped the Canterbury accident would not make a third.

Earlier this morning Radio New Zealand reported that a security guard had been stationed at the quarry since 6pm yesterday, and the local Waikari Police had arrived at the scene early this morning.

The driver, whose identity is not yet known, was operating a 65-tonne machine when an overhanging cliff face gave way at the Heathstock Haulage quarry in north Canterbury.

He is feared dead after the digger was buried by the rubble. Only the excavator's boom arm was visible last night.

Aggregate and Quarry Association chief executive Roger Parton said the amount of rock that came down was not a good sign the driver would be found alive.

"I would hope and pray that he is ... Those are big machines, they are well made and they are tough but those were also very big rocks ...

The accident is the third serious quarry incident in New Zealand this year - 43-year-old Scott Baldwin was killed in a Timaru quarry accident in March and 24-year-old Tane Hill-Ormsby was crushed by a rock-cutter in Tauranga in April.

Mr Parton said all three accidents happened in quarries that were not members of his association.

The latest incident has prompted calls for more stringent health and safety measures for quarries - but changes should not significantly alter quarry operations if they are up to date with current regulations, Mr Parton said.

It was important rescuers kept themselves safe while trying to extract the digger, he said.

Chris Baker, the chief executive of Straterra, which lobbies for high health and safety standards in mining and quarrying, said the industry was crossing its fingers the driver was still alive.

Mechanic John Stanley, who rents a workshop on the site, said he saw about 1000 tonnes of lime rock bury the digger.

Co-workers rushed to the rescue after phoning emergency services.

Mr Stanley said the missing driver was a very experienced local man and that the machine had a protective cab.

Police Inspector Corrie Parnell said last night that it was difficult to estimate how long the search and rescue operation would take.

Specialists were working with Canterbury police, Alpine Cliff Rescue and geotechnical experts from Mines Rescue and Worksafe NZ, which will investigate the incident.

"Canterbury police and Victim Support are working with and supporting the man's family who are understandably upset and worried."

Officials from Hurunui District Council, which owns the land the quarry is on, said they were on "tenterhooks" and hoping the man was miraculously pulled out alive.

Council chief executive Hamish Dobbie said the council would co-operate with all investigations.

The scene of the digger accident yesterday. Photo / Westpac Rescue Christchurch

"At the moment, we are on tenterhooks hoping that the trapped driver will miraculously be pulled out alive and unhurt. Our thoughts are also with the driver's family ..."

Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said more stringent health and safety laws were urgently needed for New Zealand quarries following the accident.

Mining safety laws were strengthened in 2013 following the Pike River Mine tragedy but the Government excluded quarries from the new protections after lobbying from the industry, she said.

But Prime Minister John Key said the Government would need to continue to work with the quarry industry to "make sure the settings are right".

He said at the time of the Pike River mining disaster specific provisions around underground mining were looked at and there was an argument about whether quarries should be included.

"The advice we had, in fact the strong petitioning we got from the quarries association was to exclude them and to work specifically with them and that's what the Minister of Labour is effectively doing."

- NZME.
Additional reporting: Scott Yeoman of the Herald