Protection law urged after quarry death

ACCIDENT: A man died after being crushed by a rock carter.

A senior union official has slammed the Government for excluding quarries from health and safety protection laws after the second death of a quarry worker in less than a month.

In the latest incident a 24-year-old man died on Thursday afternoon after being trapped under the 45-tonne rock carter he was driving at Oropi Quarries in Tauranga when it tipped over.

The man's name is yet to be released by police.

Last month 43-year-old Scott Baldwin was killed at Gordons Valley Lime Company in Timaru.

In a written statement Council of Trade Unions general counsel spokesman Jeff Sissons said unions were dismayed by these tragedies, and the Government needed to act under urgency to introduce specific health and safety regulations for quarries.

"Our hearts go out to the families and co-workers of Scott Baldwin, who was killed on March 19 in South Timaru, and the yet-unnamed worker, who died in Tauranga."

Mr Sissons said these deaths occurred despite health and safety laws being strengthened in 2013 in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into the tragedy at Pike River Mine.

Health and safety representatives visiting quarries and mines were needed, he said.

"Perhaps an industry health and safety representative might have provided advice that saved these workers' lives."

Mr Sissons said the Health and Safety Reform Bill currently before the parliamentary select committee could be amended to include quarries in the full range of mining protections.