Whakaari/White Island: Tourism operators offering unregistered adventures risk $50,000 fines

Saturday, 14 December 2019

Tourists visiting the island in 2013 despite professional vulcanologists staying away.

WorkSafe warned unregistered White Island tour operators that they faced hefty fines of up to $50,000.

The agency has provided Stuff with a letter it sent to three helicopter companies in 2017 spelling out why their walking tours of the White Island crater met the definition of adventure activities that should be registered.

Boat operator White Island Tours is the only White Island tour company on the WorkSafe adventure activity register which requires strict safety audits.

WorkSafe registrar Aidan Tansell's letter to other White Island operators said their guided tours met the criteria outlined in the regulations because they deliberately exposed participants to serious risks from volcanic hazards by taking them into the active crater area where there were no railings or barriers, and those risks had to be properly managed.

**READ MORE:

Tourists prepare to look at a fumerole on Whakaari/White Island on one of the last tours before Monday's eruption. The island vents have quirky names like Noisy Nellie and Donald Duck, but the GNS website says that 'blocks' fired out of them like cannonballs can travel for several kilometres.

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* Whakaari/ White Island: Three helicopter companies all unregistered for adventure activities

* Whakaari/White Island tours: The future for volcano tourism in New Zealand

The pilot and passengers from this badly damaged Volcanic Air helicopter were evacuated by boat after the fatal White Island eruption. The company is one of three targeted by WorkSafe for not registering its guided tours of the live volcano as adventure activities.

* 'You can't eliminate risk': NZ beefed up safety laws after tourist deaths**

An appendix attached to the letter detailed the adventure 'test' applied and it has a link to the GNS website which describes how 'frequent explosive eruptions present an obvious threat to the increasing number of visitors.'

GNS said eruptions could occur without warning, with rocks blown onto walking tracks killing or severely injuring anyone they hit, and there was also the likelihood of a future collapse of unstable walls of the main crater, and the risk of exposure to acidic volcanic gases.

Tansell's letter warned that continuing to provide or advertise unregistered activities could attract a maximum fine of $50,000 under the Adventure Activities Regulations.

Stuff asked WorkSafe how many adventure operators had been suspended, fined or prohibited from taking tours because they were unregistered or failed to meet safety audits, but the agency had not responded by publication.

Police commissioner Mike Bush confirms that the search for two bodies continues, and six have been recovered.

Auditor AdventureMark and said it had suspended eight operators over the past five years for various breaches, and it was aware of one who received a prohibition notice from WorkSafe for conducting unregistered adventure activities.

Tansell told the White Island operators it was their responsibility to correctly determine if they were subject to the regulations, but if he did not hear back within 10 days, he would assume they agreed with his determination that the tours required registration.

However, he also added that this was a 'provisional view' based on the information available.

He could take into account information from an auditor or a WorkSafe inspector, and if the company was unsure, they may wish to take specialist advice, including legal advice.

Tour operator Volcanic Air had four passengers and a pilot caught up in Monday's fatal eruption, and they were safely evacuated by boat when their helicopter was badly damaged in the blast.

The company provided Stuff with a time line of its interactions with WorkSafe, beginning in 2014 when it was told it did not have to register its tours as adventure activities.

That advice was reversed in the November 2017 letter from Tansell.

The company immediately wrote back to WorkSafe asking why it had changed its mind and more interactions followed, including in April this year when Volcanic Air put more questions to WorkSafe after discussions with other operators.

The company finally got a response eight months later where it says WorkSafe explained its change of heart and acknowledged it had given out inconsistent advice.

Tourism New Zealand's official website continues to promote geothermal tourism, albeit with a message about the emergency response to the White Island volcanic eruption.

It says a tour of the island is 'not for the faint-hearted' and the helicopter operators listed include two that are not on the adventure activity register.

Stuff asked TNZ whether it would in future check whether adventure tourism activities featuring on its website were appropriately registered, and remove any that were not.

But TNZ said it was too early to answer those questions while WorkSafe's White Island investigation was underway