Whakaari Management appeals conviction for safety breaches over White Island eruption
The volcano erupted while tour groups explored the island and others passed by in boats on December 9, 2019.
In short:
The owners of the White Island volcano that killed 22 people when it erupted in 2019 have launched an appeal against their conviction for violating safety laws.
Whakaari Management says tour operators, rather than the company itself, were responsible for the safety of visitors to the island.
What's next?
The appeal continues this week.
The owners of Whakaari White Island, an island volcano in New Zealand that erupted in 2019 and killed 22 people, have launched an appeal against their criminal conviction for violating safety laws, arguing that tour operators — rather than their company — were responsible for the safety of visitors to the volcano.
Whakaari Management, a company owned by brothers Andrew, Peter and James Buttle, was found guilty last October of a charge brought by New Zealand's workplace safety regulator of failing to protect visitors to the island.
It was ordered to pay $NZ10.21 million ($9.56 million) in reparation to families of victims and survivors for their suffering, described as "immense" and "arduous" by Judge Evangelos Thomas.
In March, the company filed an appeal. On Tuesday, lawyer Rachael Reed told the High Court in Auckland that the trial judge had erred when he ruled the volcano's owners were the managers or controllers of a workplace under the law -- and were therefore responsible for mitigating health and safety risks to anyone present.
Authorities upgraded the alert level, advising of increased volcanic activity on Whakaari White Island, three weeks prior to the disaster.
The company only granted access to the volcano, Ms Reed said, and expected the tour operators to manage the safety of tourists there.
"Just like any landowner, it had the ability to and did grant the right of access to the land through licenses. That is what it did," she told the court, referencing the company.
"It did not run the tours. It did not direct or supervise the tours."
Whakaari, was a popular tourist destination before the eruption. There were 47 tourists and tour guides — mostly from the US and Australia — on the island when superheated steam blew, killing some people instantly and leaving others with agonising burns, in 2019.
The disaster drew attention to the natural hazards around which much of New Zealand's adventure tourism industry operates and prompted tighter laws for tour companies after survivors of the eruption said they had not been told the active volcano was dangerous before their guided walk to the crater.
After a three-month trial last year, a judge found the company guilty of health and safety failings in the period before the eruption. In his ruling, Judge Evangelos Thomas said Whakaari Management had failed to undertake a risk assessment despite being aware of an eruption three years earlier.
Judge Thomas said the company should have sought expert advice about the dangers and either stopped the tours entirely or put controls in place. He dismissed a second charge against the company.
Charges were brought by New Zealand's workplace safety regulator against 13 organisations and people, including the owners' company.
Some pleaded guilty, including three companies that operated helicopter tours, one that operated boat tours, a scenic flight operator and the New Zealand scientific agency GNS Science.
Charges against the others were dropped.
In the three-day appeal this week, Justice Simon Moore is expected to hear further submissions from lawyers for Whakaari Management before arguments from the regulator.
Justice Moore told the court that any error found by the trial judge must rise to the level of a miscarriage of justice for the appeal to be successful.
AP/ABC
By：ABC(责任编辑：admin)
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