Father calls for licensing regime

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Adventure operators who fail to register under a new safety scheme should warn: 'This activity may kill you', the father of a tourist who died while river-boarding says.

British backpacker Emily Jordan, 21, drowned during a Mad Dog River Boarding trip near Queenstown in 2008. The following year, after 37 deaths in New Zealand in four years, Prime Minister John Key ordered a government review of the adventure sector.

New regulations governing commercial adventure activities were enacted in 2011 and operators must pass audits and register with WorkSafe New Zealand. A deadline of November 1 was extended for almost 200 operators but the final deadline of December 12 is looming.

Emily Jordan's father, Chris Jordan, who repeatedly raised concerns about the sector after his daughter's death, has written again to Key, expressing frustration at the new regime and calling for more funding.

Back in 2008, the river boarding firm was allowed to trade in New Zealand but Mad Dog would not have been allowed to operate in any other developed country, Jordan wrote.

He said he was pleased with the outcome of the sector review in 2010 but was disappointed implementing change was taking so long and relied on operator compliance and registration rather than government-led licensing.

'The danger of this is it can become a form-filling exercise. You are relying on the goodwill of the companies concerned, but the previous experience of this sector did not convince me and others that this would happen.'

Registration was stalled this year when an external accreditor ran out of money.

Jordan said he appreciated Key's comments this week about fining non-compliant operators but he urged the Government to consider a licensing system.

'It is to your country's advantage to make this sector safer and therefore some money spent would seem to be a no-brainer. Here we are, some six years later, with very little having happened. An appalling situation.'

The latest figures revealed 77 of the 349 notified operators had registered. Of the 272 yet to be registered, 194 were in or through the field audit stage, with 94 having their final audits completed.

A spokeswoman from Key's office said it was inappropriate to comment before Key had time to read and consider the letter.

The now-defunct Mad Dog company was fined almost $150,000 after pleading guilty to two charges under the Health and Safety Act.