Despite the conclusion of breaching health and safety law WorkSafe New Zealand will not be laying charges over the death of Canterbury man Murray Taylor.
Taylor was crushed in June last year when the limestone quarry face he was working on collapsed.
WorkSafe concluded that there were breaches Health and Safety in Employment Act, but it decided prosecution was not in the public interest as Taylor was the sole director of the company in charge of the quarry work, Heathstock Haulage Ltd.
He died in June when about 1000 tonnes of sandstone rock fell from the quarry wall, burying the 65-tonne Cat excavator he was operating at the time.
The rock face had been undermined and was unstable as a result of Taylor’s excavation work.
WorkSafe’s Chief Inspector of Investigations Keith Stewart says Taylor was operating the excavator directly under the face of the wall when it collapsed, instantly crushing the excavator’s cab.
“Quarry work is inherently risky unless it is done correctly. In this case, no geotechnical assessment had been carried out to determine the nature of the rock wall,” says Stewart.
“That would have helped identify the safest way to tackle excavation work. There was also no evidence procedures were in place to ensure that staff was adequately trained, monitored and supervised,” he says.
“As has been noted previously, Taylor did not hold the Certificate of Competence that is legally required for the sort of quarry work he was undertaking,” says Stewart.
“Merely holding a Certificate might not have prevented this incident – but to obtain one he would have had to prove he had the required knowledge and skills which could have been applied to this work,” he says.
“Any workplace death is a tragedy for family, friends and colleagues but hopefully, the publicity surrounding Taylor’s death will prompt quarry operators to check that their Certificates are current, and their practices are safe,” says Stewart.
