Whakaari Management Limited found guilty as criminal proceedings close in White Island case

Whakaari Management Limited has been found guilty in the Auckland District Court of a health and safety charge relating to the 2019 eruption at White Island which led to 22 deaths. 

Bringing to an end a four-month trial, Judge Evangelos Thomas delivered the verdict against the final defendant in the criminal trial on Tuesday afternoon.

The company, Whakaari Management Limited is owned by the Buttle brothers who inherited White Island and had been licensing other businesses to run tours on the active volcano.

Judge Thomas ruled that Whakaari Management Limited "managed and controlled" the volcano as a workplace and failed in its duty to minimise the risk there, noting “it was fundamental that it engaged the necessary expertise to assess risk arising from the conduct of commercial tours on its active volcano.

"This was critical to it ensuring tours could be conducted safely. While that was the expert evidence, it is also common sense.

"The interaction between Whakaari Management Limited and GNS Science was not enough to amount to taking necessary expert advice on the risk of permitting tours to Whakaari."

Judge Thomas said the information passing to the company from New Zealand's volcano monitor was "adhoc, infrequent, unstructured, informal and incomplete, when much more was required, adding that “this was a major failure.

However, Judge Thomas dismissed a second charge against Whakaari Management Limited, which related to the safety of its own workers.

The volcano's three owners James, Andrew and Peter Buttle were also on trial over alleged breaches of New Zealand's workplace health and safety legislation by themselves as individuals, but had those charges dismissed in September.

The action was the largest of its kind ever brought by New Zealand's regulator Worksafe NZ, and today marks the end of the 11-week trial process.

Worksafe NZ brought the prosecution against 13 parties, three individuals and 10 entities. Six pleaded guilty before trial, six had charges dismissed and Whakaari Management Limited has today been found guilty on one charge.

Sentencing is set down for February, with the maximum penalty for an organisation being a $1.5 million fine.

Image courtesy of White Island Tours. Used for illustrative purposes only.