White Island tour firm could face millions in fines
The death toll from New Zealand’s White Island volcano eruption has increased to eight as authorities are investigating tour companies for potential breaches of health and safety laws.
Tour operators – including White Island Tours, which brought visitors to the island on the day of the eruption – could be fined up to NZ$1.5 million if Worksafe finds serious breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
A fine could only be imposed by the courts if a prosecution found any breaches, according to a Worksafe spokeswoman.
Hemi Morete, the safety auditor for White Island Tours said the company was “a very professional outfit” and had passed its safety audits over the past three years.
“They passed their audit,” Morete told Stuff.co.nz. “I can’t go into the details of it now as Worksafe is investigating.”
White Island Tours was named New Zealand’s safest place to work in a workplace safety award in 2018.
Mayor Judy Turner of Whakatane said the tour organiser is “a very responsible operator”.
“I think the nature of adventure tourism, where people do consider a degree of risk, and trust an operator to safely conduct them through that, that’s going to be a challenge with this one,” Turner said.
Other companies – including US-based cruise operator Royal Caribbean – also held guided tours to the island, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Specialist insurance lawyer Graeme Christie told the New Zealand Herald grieving families could file personal injury claims against Royal Carribean in the US to get around restrictions in New Zealand.
Eight people have been confirmed dead following the Monday incident. Seven are Australians and one a New Zealander, tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman. Twenty-eight people remain in hospital.
According to police, there were 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption, including 24 Australians, nine Americans, five New Zealanders and others from Germany, Britain, China and Malaysia.