Since then, six have pleaded guilty and six more had their charges dismissed. WML was the last party to receive a verdict.
The individuals who own Whakaari Management and the island itself - Andrew, James and Peter Buttle - had their charges dismissed in September.
WML’s defence lawyer, James Cairney, argued during his closing statements last month that Whakaari Management was nothing more than a landowner.
Judge Evangelos Thomas disagreed.
“WorkSafe has established that Whakaari Management is not a passive landowner,” the judge said. “The relevant duty was for WML to ensure that the health of safety of persons it permitted to be on Whakaari was not put at risk.”
He said Whakaari Management had not done proper risk assessments or engaged with experts at research institute GNS Science.
“The interaction between WML and GNS was not enough to amount to taking necessary expert advice on the risk of permitting tours on Whakaari,” Thomas said.
“[It] was ad-hoc, infrequent, unstructured, informal and incomplete when much more was required.”
Judge Thomas said a prior eruption in 2016, which happened at night when no tourists or workers were on the island, should have been a wake-up call.
“What should have been obvious to any Whakaari stakeholder was that any risk assessment and risk management processes in place had failed,” he said.
“Whatever it thought was in place prior, it needed to stop and re-evaluate.”
He said WML had not done a proper risk assessment, and therefore “failed to install facilities that would sufficiently mitigate the risk, failed to ensure that workers and tourists were supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment, and failed to ensure there was an adequate means of evacuation”.
“This was a major failure and amounts to a breach of its duty under section 37 [of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015],” he said.
The judge dismissed the second charge, which alleged that Whakaari Management under section 36 had a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of workers and tourists.
He said that clause only applied if the workers were “influenced or directed” by the company.
“In a fundamental sense, WML did not influence or direct the tour operators’ activities while carrying out [their] work.”
WorkSafe later clarified that it had filed the section 36 charge as an alternative - only seeking a conviction for one charge or the other, not both.
Since the charge under section 37 was successful, Judge Evangelos Thomas dismissed the charge under section 36.
Judge Evangelos Thomas thanked survivors of the eruption who had given evidence throughout the trial.
“Each was remarkable, each showed great strength, poise and dignity,” he said. “Their stories were confronting, poignant, and left a deep and enduring impression. I thank them for their strength and courage.”
Whakaari Management and the six other guilty parties will be sentenced in February next year.
Judge Evangelos Thomas said sentencing could take up to two weeks.
