In the District Court at Auckland yesterday, Judge Evangelos Thomas found Whakaari Management Ltd (WML) guilty on one health and safety charge.
This was after Worksafe’s case against six other defendants had collapsed, leaving its big prosecution push “hanging by a thread”, in the words of 1News.
Six defendants had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges against them, leaving WML – the holding company of the Buttle brothers, who own the island – the sole remaining defendant.
GNS Science, the Inflite tourism group, White Island Tours and three helicopter tour operators pleaded guilty. Judge Thomas dismissed charges against Tauranga Tourism Services, ID Tours and the three Buttle brothers as individuals.
The dismissal of those charges indicates WorkSafe’s case was not well-founded and raises the possibility that some of the other parties might have got off too had they put up a fight. But infinitely more damning than that was the judge’s scathing criticism – largely ignored by the media, other than by Newshub – of the government agency itself.
In what veteran Newshub reporter Adam Hollingworth described as a “huge serve” to WorkSafe, Thomas noted that the agency had given WML a tick of approval in an adventure activity audit.
That audit, the judge said, did not cover White Island Tours’ processes for assessing the risk of an eruption while tourists were on the island. He described this as “an astonishing failure”.
Not surprisingly, WorkSafe didn’t want to be interviewed. Quelle surprise.
The judge’s comment followed an independent review in 2021 which found that WorkSafe “fell short of good practice in its regulation of activities on Whakaari White Island over the 2014-19 period” and called for improvements in WorkSafe's management of adventure activities. It was the gentlest of raps across the knuckles.
All this serves to reinforce the view that WorkSafe should itself have been in the dock for its abject failure to foresee the potentially catastrophic consequences of an eruption on New Zealand’s most active volcano, which tourist parties visited as if it were some sort of theme park. The eruption on December 9 2019 killed 22 people and injured 25 others.
High-profile Christchurch lawyer Nigel Hampton KC said in a 2020 interview that it could be argued WorkSafe bore some responsibility for what happened on Whakaari. He drew a comparison with the former Department of Labour, which brought charges at Pike River despite having failed in its own duty as the regulator responsible for mining safety.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, as the French would say.
WorkSafe surely has an obligation to explain why it left itself off the hook, and at the very least should apologise to the victims and their families for its dereliction in failing to act on a very obvious risk to public safety. But no one’s holding their breath. The bureaucrats are untouchable.
GNS Science, the Inflite tourism group, White Island Tours and three helicopter tour operators pleaded guilty. Judge Thomas dismissed charges against Tauranga Tourism Services, ID Tours and the three Buttle brothers as individuals.
The dismissal of those charges indicates WorkSafe’s case was not well-founded and raises the possibility that some of the other parties might have got off too had they put up a fight. But infinitely more damning than that was the judge’s scathing criticism – largely ignored by the media, other than by Newshub – of the government agency itself.
In what veteran Newshub reporter Adam Hollingworth described as a “huge serve” to WorkSafe, Thomas noted that the agency had given WML a tick of approval in an adventure activity audit.
That audit, the judge said, did not cover White Island Tours’ processes for assessing the risk of an eruption while tourists were on the island. He described this as “an astonishing failure”.
Not surprisingly, WorkSafe didn’t want to be interviewed. Quelle surprise.
The judge’s comment followed an independent review in 2021 which found that WorkSafe “fell short of good practice in its regulation of activities on Whakaari White Island over the 2014-19 period” and called for improvements in WorkSafe's management of adventure activities. It was the gentlest of raps across the knuckles.
All this serves to reinforce the view that WorkSafe should itself have been in the dock for its abject failure to foresee the potentially catastrophic consequences of an eruption on New Zealand’s most active volcano, which tourist parties visited as if it were some sort of theme park. The eruption on December 9 2019 killed 22 people and injured 25 others.
High-profile Christchurch lawyer Nigel Hampton KC said in a 2020 interview that it could be argued WorkSafe bore some responsibility for what happened on Whakaari. He drew a comparison with the former Department of Labour, which brought charges at Pike River despite having failed in its own duty as the regulator responsible for mining safety.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, as the French would say.
WorkSafe surely has an obligation to explain why it left itself off the hook, and at the very least should apologise to the victims and their families for its dereliction in failing to act on a very obvious risk to public safety. But no one’s holding their breath. The bureaucrats are untouchable.
Karl du Fresne, a freelance journalist, is the former editor of The Dominion newspaper. He blogs at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz. - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Indeed, WorkSafe are culpable for they, like anyone involved, should readily have foreseen the potential.
I also know of at least one other instance where they have been advised of a clearly foreseeable and identified on-going health and safety issue, but have chosen to turn a blind eye and permitted what amounts to a financial expedient with supposed 'monitoring', but nothing has materially altered and the fundamental risks to the workers (primarily) and also the public remains.
But as you've identified, Karl, these bureaucrats are effectively untouchable and they are remunerated far too well given their personal level of ultimate accountability. Perhaps things might improve, if a few more at the top had to pay with their employment.
Seems to have been a high degree of naivety. None of the parties seems to have asked themselves what the situation would be in such circumstances. If I was the island owner there would have been some very clear agreement that, whilst all available info would be passed on, the ultimate responsibility with the operator. Provision of a few preferably concrete roofed shelters would likely have saved many. I suppose when operating as a limited liablity company little incentive for great caution. Would be interesting to know how legal costs met. Limited to the company? Insurance?
Seemed a bit rich that the helicopter company drawn in.
Worksafe seem to have been asleep. But thye insist on the most ludicrous scaffolding provision etc for many basic house maintenance tasks.
Yes, amazing lack of commonsense by most parties & brings into focus "thrill seeking tourism in which NZ seems to be near the front of the pack.Did the tourists get a landing ticket stating the obvious?..."you going up close with one of NZ's most active volcanoes. This is bl--dy dangerous but yes, a big thrill. We hope you enjoy your risky experience. If you don't, we will be sorry but regret there will be no refund of this ticket."
The same applies to throwing yourself off a bridge or whitewater rafting, or swimming with sharks!
I doubt many young tourists would be put off by this honesty. Indeed they might flock in greater numbers, but responsibility would in the main lie with them.Health & Safety (an obvious oxymoron) would just need to satisfy itself that all parties understood the risks and adopted basic safety practices.
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