Whakaari/White Island tour maritime safety plan does not discuss eruptions
Monday, 13 January 2020
A maritime safety plan for White Island Tours did not discuss volcanic eruptions, documents obtained by Stuff under the Official Information Act show.
Do you know more? Email george.block@stuff.co.nz
The revelation comes as another victim succumbs to their injuries in hospital following the deadly eruption of Whakaari/White Island in December.
A White Island Tours spokeswoman said eruption contingency plans were covered by a separate document and all staff were briefed on the plans.
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But a marine law expert has suggested the Maritime Transport Operator Plan in hindsight should have discussed eruptions, given the ash plume billowed some distance off shore.
Forty-seven tourists and guides were on the island at the time of the eruption.
Eighteen are now officially confirmed dead while two remain missing, including experienced White Island Tours guide Hayden Marshall-Inman.
Stuff obtained the Whakatāne company's Maritime Transport Operator Plan from Maritime NZ.
Maritime NZ is the health and safety regulator for work aboard ships, as Worksafe is on land.
The document includes details on crew training, daily operational procedures, maintenance and health and safety.
Those health and safety plans include whole pages on garbage management and sewage discharge at sea, along with an extensive drug and alcohol policy.
But they make no mention of an eruption.
Peter Dawson, director of Dawson & Associates, has been a maritime lawyer for more than 25 years.
He was not surprised the document did not discuss eruptions, and said that threat would have been covered by hazard management plans overseen by Worksafe.
A Maritime Transport Operator Plan (MTOP) was generally an internal plan rather than looking at external threats, meaning it was more likely to talk about how the vessel should be manned and crew emergencies, he said.
The eruption blasted an ash cloud some distance offshore in the Crater Bay area, according to Geonet duty vulcanologist Brad Scott, meaning vessels at sea could be affected.
Dawson said that suggested the maritime safety plans should have discussed eruptions.
'If the effects of the eruption were felt at sea then there should have been some protocol in the MTOP that would have dealt with identifying the hazard and what steps would be taken to mitigate against it.
'I guess in hindsight it's something that should have appeared in there.'
Maritime NZ executive compliance systems delivery deputy director Pelin Fantham said in a statement the MTOP covered the safety of people in vessels while at sea and did not apply to passengers on land.
Her statement said a section of the plan included the responsibility to check landing conditions and seismic monitors on the island, though it stopped short of explicitly mentioning the eruption risk.
'WorkSafe are the appropriate agency to discuss on-island safe operating activities and procedures with,' she said.
A Worksafe spokeswoman would not provide any information, citing the ongoing investigation.