Owners of Whakaari/White Island Andrew, James and Peter Buttle have company’s conviction quashed

• The Buttle brothers company’s conviction over the 2019 Whakaari eruption, which killed 22, was quashed.
• Justice Simon Moore ruled they didn’t manage or control the island, only owned the land.
• WorkSafe NZ is considering its next steps following the High Court decision.

By Natalie Akoorie of RNZ

The owners of Whakaari/White Island have had their company’s conviction over the volcano’s deadly 2019 eruption, which killed 22 and seriously injured 25, quashed.

Brothers Andrew, James and Peter Buttle appealed the conviction, in which they were fined $1.045 million and ordered to pay $4.88m in reparation to the victims.

In a High Court judgment released on Friday, Justice Simon Moore said the brothers did not manage or control the island off the coast of Whakatāne.

Justice Moore said through the brothers' company Whakaari Management Ltd (WML), they simply owned the land where licensed walking tours took place.

Still from video shot from a tourist boat next to White Island just as the volcano erupted back in 2019.

He concluded those walking tour operators and others, including the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS), took a leading role in allowing visits.

For 11 years from 2008, WML granted licences allowing commercial tour companies to run guided walking tours on the crater floor of the island volcano.

On December 9, 2019, when the volcano was at alert level 2 status – moderate to heightened volcanic unrest – 42 mostly international tourists and five tour guides were on the island when it blew up.

Following the disaster, WorkSafe NZ brought charges under health and safety laws against 13 parties including Whakaari Management, companies that operated guided walking tours on the island and others.

Whakaari Management was charged with failing to comply with a duty to manage or control a workplace, or a duty to ensure the health and safety of those on the island because of its business.

WorkSafe alleged that either failure exposed people to the risk of death or serious injury.

But before the case could get to trial six of the parties had their charges dismissed.

After the judge-alone trial in the Auckland District Court in 2023, Judge Evangelos Thomas found Whakaari Management guilty on one of the two charges; breaching its duty under section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

But the Buttle brothers appealed to the High Court arguing their company did not have a duty because it did not manage or control the workplace where the walking tours took place.

They claimed they did not breach any duty and if there was such a breach, they did not expose individuals to death or serious injury.

Justice Moore, who retired in November and whose judgment was reserved, agreed and found WML did not have a duty to ensure the walking tour was without risk.

He found the act imposed a duty on people with the ability to “actively” manage or control a workplace, rather than on those who had some element of control and management through ownership.

Justice Moore considered it significant the “workplace” where the walking tour happened was on bare land.

This meant there was nothing for Whakaari Management to manage or control on the tours other than granting access, which meant it did not have “active” management over the workplace.

He said while WML had some degree of management because of granting access, it was insufficient to impose a duty because Parliament had intended, when creating the law, for the duty not be imposed on landowners simply because they permitted others to carry out activities on their land.

Justice Moore also rejected that WML had a duty because it was paid for allowing the walking tours.

He said there was nothing in the licence agreements that gave WML the ability to direct and control what was happening on the island on a day-to-day basis.

Instead, his review of the evidence led to the conclusion it was the walking tour operators and others, including GNS, who took a leading role as to what happened on, and whether to allow visits to, the island.

WorkSafe’s case was that Whakaari Management should have obtained a risk assessment in permitting walking tours, and that visitors should have been given protective clothing and an adequate means of evacuation.

But the High Court agreed with WML that their own risk assessment was not reasonably practicable, and that the company relied on operators to undertake those assessments, and on GNS to supply relevant information.

WML also argued WorkSafe approved audits of operator White Island Tours for its registration as an Adventure Activity operator, both before and after an eruption in 2016.

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Justice Moore said the appeal was allowed and the conviction should be quashed.

However, he noted that had Whakaari Management been under an obligation to obtain a risk assessment from GNS, it would have appreciated the heightening risk of an eruption in the lead-up to December 9, 2019, and that this would have informed its decision-making about whether to continue to permit tours.

WorkSafe said it acknowledged the High Court decision and was considering next steps, including whether to seek to appeal.

A spokesperson said the convictions and sentences of the six other entities prosecuted by WorkSafe remained.

Correction: This story has been amended to reflect the conviction that was quashed was against the company, Whakaari Management Limited, and not the Buttle brothers as individuals.

– RNZ