Gas masks given to Whakaari/White Island tourists 'little more than props', says expert

Friday, 13 December 2019

NZDF Colonel Rian McKinstry shows us what the recovery team wore to stay safe during their White Island operation (This video was first published in December 2020).

Gas masks and skin protection given to tourists visiting Whakaari/White Island may have provided little more than the 'illusion of safety', says a health and safety expert.

Images of the half-face masks and hard hats used by tourists to the island are a common sight on Instagram, but experts spoken to by Stuff have said they would have been little more than props when confronted with natural hazards on the island including: corrosive sulphur dioxide (SO2), deadly hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and superheated steam.

Instead they said full face masks would have been more appropriate.

H2S gas is known to reach lethal levels in a thermal hot-pool, let alone an active volcano.

Allessandro Kauffman filmed his tour of Whakaari/White Island - one of the last before Monday's eruption.

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GNS data collected from flyovers of the eruption on December 10 showed large volumes of both S02 and H2S gasses being released hourly.

NH90 helicopter from the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 3 Squadron lifting a 2.4-tonne shipping container to the volcanic White Island. Credit NZDF from 2016. We have permission to use.

Readings showed 29,000 kilograms of S2O was being released from the volcano every hour, 30 times the normal amount. About 540 kilograms of H2S was also being released.

A health and safety respirator supplier said the risk of being exposed to these gases such as these warranted a strong safety standard.

This December 9 photo provided by Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, shows the eruption of the volcano on White Island.

'If someone was to phone me and ask for a recommendation [on what they should wear on a tour] I would have said a full-face mask,' an health and industry respirator supplier said.

'The half masks do not protect the eyes from gas.'

And certain gas masks can also be rendered ineffective if the wearer has facial hair.

GNS Science volcanologist Nick Fournier outlined the hazard assessment for the recovery team operation to retrieve the bodies which 'included being pummelled by flying rocks, overcome with toxic gases and temperatures exceeding hundreds of degrees celsius'.

The recovery operation was launched while the volcanic alert was at level 2. The same alert level the tour group had visited the island.

But a video captured by a Brazilian tourist on the day of the eruption showed little protective wear other than a hard hat and half-face mask. Visitors had no skin or eye protection with some in shorts and singlets. It is unclear if gas-detection equipment was used.

Photograph showing Whakaari/White Island with vent area marked. The distance between the edge of the crater lake and the ocean at the bottom of the image is about 700 metres.

During the video tourists are advised, if overcome with gas escaping vents, to 'turn your back to it and crouch down'. However, In the event of a sudden H2S release crouching down is not advised by experts as it is heavier than air, according to oil industry safety guidelines sighted by Stuff.

Personal protection to be investigated

Health and Safety Lawyer Bridget Smith says the personal protection equipment (PPE) issued to tourists would form part of the Whakaari eruption investigation.

Tourists prepare to look at a fumerole on Whakaari/White Island on one of the last tours before Monday's eruption. Tourist Allessandro Kauffman filmed his tour.

She said the gas masks could have provided a false level of security.

'People look at these hard hats and gas masks and think if something goes wrong they will be safe,' she said.

'But if it is not fit-for-purpose a hard hat may as well be a sun hat.'

Smith said it is the responsibility of the tour operator to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure people are safe.

'You have to assess the extent of the risk and you are entitled to look at costs of mitigating that risk,' she said.

'I imagine what they are going to say is we have these gas masks which we believed were satisfactory apart from a one-in-a-million time event.'

Smith said the key question is if the permit to take tourists to the island should even have been given.

'It's clearly extremely risky taking people to an active volcano,' she said.

Tourists say dangers not explained

A tourist who has taken the White Island Tour, who asked not to be named, said the risks were not explicitly stated in their safety briefing and it was assumed they were allowed to be on the island as it was safe.

The tourist could not recall seeing any gas detection equipment on the guides.

'We were just told to wear the masks if the gas was troubling you,' she said.

'I think if I was told explicitly that there could be dangerous gasses on the island and the lack of a quick escape plan before hand, I would not have gone,' she said.