The Maritime Safety Authority calls for stricter safety standards for school trips in a report into the drowning of two girls near Hanmer last year.
Hanmer Springs School pupils Hayley North, 13, and Annabel Atkinson, 11, drowned when their canoe overturned and they became trapped underwater in the Clarence River, near Jacks Pass.
Their parents were unable to free them from the submerged canoe.
The report calls for commercial canoe operators to work with tourism's quality assurance agency, Qualmark, to develop safety standards in canoeing.
Director Russell Kilvington said the school had no formal way of assessing the safety of the operation or the competence of the operator.
"In the future, they would know that an operator who has the Qualmark seal of approval has met documented safety standards and should be chosen over another operator who could pose a risk to the safety of their children."
The report includes several recommendations to the Ministry of Education on publishing guidelines for Education Outside the Classroom.
It calls for better training for school staff so they can make informed decisions on competence and safety.
Mr Kilvington said that, in the case involving the two girls, the school followed existing guidelines to the best of its ability.
A risk-assessment management system was used in planning the trip.
"This canoe operator had had no formal canoeing training and did not have a recognised canoe instructor's award."
He said the canoes should have had extra buoyancy fitted for better safety in white-water conditions.
The report conceded that all water-based activities had a measure of risk.
"Risk factors need to be recognised, assessed and understood by the participants before they enter the water to enable them to make informed decisions about their safety."
- NZPA
Drowning highlights need for training
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