The number of quarry workers being seriously injured is on the rise and WorkSafe is being told to invest more resources in the industry.
It's not just injuries either, five people have lost their lives whilst working at a quarry in the last four years.
The safety call comes after the amount of serious injuries has jumped from only eight in 2014, to 31 last year.
Industry official, Wayne Scott who is CEO to Mining Extractives Health and Safety Council, believes the reason for all the incidents is due to lack of care towards health and safety found in the smaller sites.
"Unfortunately there is a small group in our sector that avoid trying to comply with the legislation and the industry is very concerned about that group because they're putting their workers at risk of injury or illness," said Mr Scott.
At present Worksafe has four inspectors who are dedicated to quarrying and last year saw 133 inspections.
Nicole Rosie, WorkSafe CEO believes enforcement isn't the way to change the industry but rather businesses taking ownership.
"If we went back and said that we're never going to enforce our way into good health ans safety outcomes in New Zealand this is really about individual businesses taking ownership in this area there is very very clear regulations very very clear compliance requirements," she said.
They are promising more action against those who break the rules which has been costing workers their lives.
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