New warning signs are up in Rotorua's Kuirau Park after the death of a 10-year-old boy who fell in to a hot pool on Boxing Day.
Rotorua's council also wants to meet with thermal park owners soon to ensure public safety at all geothermal reserves around the district.
Twenty-five of 60 new signs commissioned by the Rotorua District Council were erected at entrances to the popular park by Traditional Landscapes yesterday, with the other 35 due to be nailed up on fences in the next week.
Rotorua District Council Parks and Recreation manager Garry Page said that while the council didn't have any control over privately-owned features council officers had planned to meet with geothermal attraction owners soon to sort out guidelines ensuring public safety.
He said there were hundreds of natural geothermal pools scattered around the Rotorua region making it almost impossible to monitor and make all of them safe.
"It's just not practical to fence them all. They are scattered across public and private land, thermal parks and golf courses," he said. "It's the same as lakes and streams and other waterways - they are natural hazards and everyone has to be careful around them."
However, tourist attraction owners say they already have adequate safety measures in place.
Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland general manager Alex Leinhardt said signs depicting geothermal dangers in the park were in place and all visitors were warned before being allowed in.
He said barriers were in place where needed and paths must be followed at all times. Children were admitted only with adult supervision.
Mr Leinhardt said there had been no incidents of tourists being burned or falling in hot pools in the 25 years he had worked at the park.
However, he said, some people don't listen and had to be removed from the park.
"Unfortunately, it's only human nature some people won't listen.
"A huge amount of effort goes into making sure everyone is 100 per cent safe."
He said there were two types of people who didn't adhere to the rules. "One are those who are ignorant and just don't know the dangers and then there are others who just won't be told."
Of the millions of people who have gone through Hells Gate and Waiora Spa in the past 16 years since Brian Hughes has owned the attraction, four people have been burned after climbing barriers.
Mr Hughes said one of those was a volcanologist who tried to take a close-up photograph and fell in burning himself so badly he was in Waikato Hospital was three months recovering.
Mr Hughes said international signage was prominent throughout the park, staff regularly walked tracks and every visitor was warned of the dangers.
There was little else they could do, he said.
"To be perfectly honest, if people want to climb barriers all you can do is put up warning signs and make it clear it is unsafe," he said.
"People soon learn it is something to respect."
Rotorua Daily Post
