The digger driver who was buried in a mammoth quarry landslide in Canterbury was operating without the proper certification.
WorkSafe New Zealand said it had no record of Murray Taylor holding the required certificate of competence.
It was illegal for the owner of a quarry to operate without a certificate, a WorkSafe NZ spokesman said, and it was the quarry owners' responsibility to obtain such a certificate.
The certificate of competence is a record which shows the manager has undertaken relevant education and training, and met the requirements for safe supervision of a quarrying operation.
Mr Taylor (56) was buried beneath a 1500-tonne landslide when an overhanging cliff-face gave way at Heathstock Haulage quarry near Waikari in North Canterbury on Monday.
WorkSafe NZ would take action in cases where it learnt there was no certificate held, the spokesman said, but there were no plans to carry out widespread inspections or an audit of existing quarries.
"The issue here is there is something between 700 and 1000 quarries in New Zealand. We can't be in every quarry doing an audit. The legislation requires managers to have a certificate of competence, and it's a reasonable expectation on behalf of the regulator that those in the industry will do as they are required to do.
"The responsibility for managing the certificate of competence process has only recently transferred to WorkSafe NZ, it was previously held by the industry body ... we have only in the last month or so received the list of current holders and potentially expired holders."
Hopes of finding Mr Taylor alive faded yesterday. Police Inspector Corrie Parnell said the digger's cab had sustained a "catastrophic collapse" when the cliff fell. Some of the rocks that came down weighed 15 tonnes.
Insp Parnell said a recovery team finished about 7pm last night as the weather deteriorated and people began to get tired.
The team has already cleared hundreds of tonnes of rock and debris. A further slip happened shortly after the digger was crushed, and an ambulance remains on site while geotechnical experts monitor the area for further dangers.
Work would continue today by a large team of experts from police, WorkSafe NZ and the Fire Service to remove the remaining rock debris in an effort to recover Mr Taylor, he said.
"While we hope to achieve this today, we need to be mindful of the challenging conditions and dynamic environment the recovery team are working in. An ambulance will be on site again today as part of the site risk management plan."
The Taylor family was "understandably distraught" but it was advantageous to have them on site yesterday to see the magnitude of the operation, Insp Parnell said.
Mr Taylor was a life-long North Canterbury man, living at nearby Balcairn with his wife Jill. The family said he was a much loved husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend who left for work as usual on Monday "to do a job he thoroughly enjoyed".
Police and WorkSafe investigations are continuing.
'Dangerous game'
Colin Campbell, a former boss at the limestone quarry, visited just last week "for old time's sake".
He said he remembered looking at the spot where the slip happened, thinking the overhanging rock-face did not look secure.
There had been multiple brushes with death at the site, including one Mr Campbell had been caught in himself.
The 73-year-old grew up in a house on the quarry property and eventually succeeded his father as the quarry manager. On one occasion, Mr Campbell was operating a bulldozer without a protective cab when a landslip buried him almost up to his waist.
"It's always been a dangerous game to be in," he said. "I managed to free my legs and get myself out."
A Waikari local, who did not want to be named, said Mr Taylor was a decent, hard-working bloke.
When the local service station burned down in 1996, Mr Taylor brought a digger to help. "That was the sort of guy he was," she said. "He's going to be well missed in the community."
