The company that owns New Zealand’s Whakaari White Island has successfully appealed its conviction over the 2019 volcanic eruption that killed 22 people and injured 25 others.
In 2023, a judge found Whakaari Management Limited (WML) didn’t properly assess the risks of a potential eruption on the island to tourists.
Its conviction was overturned in the High Court in Auckland yesterday.
Background
Whakaari is a privately owned island about 50 kilometres off the northeast coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
It was a popular tourist attraction before a volcanic eruption on the island killed 22 people, including 17 Australians, in December 2019.
In 2020, WorkSafe NZ charged WML and several tour operators, arguing they failed in their health and safety obligations on the day of the eruption.
Six parties pleaded guilty ahead of a trial, and six others had their cases dismissed. WML was the only one to go to trial.
In 2023, a judge found WML didn’t do enough to minimise the risk of a volcanic eruption.
It found the company undermined tourists’ safety by failing to access full or frequent information from NZ’s volcano monitoring systems.
WML was found guilty of failing to comply with a “duty to ensure the health and safety of those on the island because of its business.”
The company was fined $NZ1 million ($AU940,000) and ordered to pay nearly $NZ5 million to “the victims of the eruption.”
Appeal
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WML’s appeal was granted on two grounds.
Its arguments were:
- It did not have a duty to “manage or control” the “workplace” where walking tours took place. text
- Even if it had this duty, it didn’t breach it.
Ruling
NZ High Court Justice Simon Moore ruled as follows:
1. WML did not have to ensure the walking tour workplace didn’t have health or safety risks, because it was “bare land.”
“There was nothing for WML to manage or control on the [island] other than granting access in the first place,” Moore said.
2. Even assuming WML did have a duty to ensure health and safety, it still did not breach it.
At trial, WorkSafe NZ argued WML should have conducted a risk assessment. Moore found it wasn’t reasonable to ask WML to do so, because that was the responsibility of walking tour operators.
“As a landowner... it was difficult to see what more could reasonably have been expected of WML,” Moore said.
A WorkSafe NZ spokesperson told RNZ it would consider the ruling and any possible next steps.
