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       New Zealand Volcano Owner Is Found Guilty of Safety Failure

       The ruling brings an end to legal proceedings that began after the White Island eruption killed 22 people in 2019.

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       White Island erupted on Dec. 9, 2019, with 47 people — including tour groups and their guides — on the island. Almost half of them where killed. Credit...Michael Schade, via Associated Press

       By Yan Zhuang

       Oct. 31, 2023, 4:07 a.m. ET

       Nearly four years after 22 people were killed by a volcanic eruption on White Island in New Zealand, a court ruled that the company that owns the island was guilty of violating a safety law.

       The verdict, handed down by a judge in Auckland on Tuesday, ends the yearslong legal proceedings stemming from the disaster. New Zealand’s workplace regulator in 2020 sued several organizations, including other government agencies, over their roles in the lead-up to the deadly eruption of the volcano, which is also known by its Maori name, Whakaari.

       In his ruling, Judge Evangelo Thomas found that the company, Whakaari Management, had breached a law that required it to ensure that those visiting the active volcano were not put at risk.

       The company did not conduct the necessary risk assessments or engage with experts to assess and mitigate the risk of allowing tourists onto the active volcano, the judge said, according to RNZ, New Zealand’s public broadcaster.

       “This was a major failure,” Judge Thomas said.

       He dismissed another charge that Whakaari Management had failed to minimize the health and safety risks to workers on the island.

       White Island erupted on Dec. 9, 2019, with 47 people — including tour groups and their guides — on the island. Almost half of them were killed, including 17 people from Australia.

       When the regulator, WorkSafe, charged 13 organizations and individuals for failing to meet workplace health and safety obligations before the disaster, it said the eruption was “unexpected, but that does not mean it was unforeseen.”

       “The victims — both workers and visitors — all had a reasonable expectation that they could go to the island knowing that those organizations involved had done all they were required to do to look after their health and safety,” Phil Parkes, then the chief executive of WorkSafe, said at the time.

       Of those accused by the regulator, six organizations pleaded guilty before the trial, which started in July. Six other parties had their charges dropped before the trial or dismissed during it, leaving Whakaari Management as the last defendant.

       Among those who had their charges dismissed were the three brothers who owned Whakaari Management — Andrew, James and Peter Buttle — who all faced individual charges for failing to ensure their company met its health and safety obligations.

       James Cairney, the lawyer for the company, argued that it was merely the landowner of the volcano and did not have control over the tours that took place. But WorkSafe argued that the company was responsible for the safety of the island as its place of business.

       Judge Thomas agreed with WorkSafe, ruling that the company “managed and controlled” the volcano as a workplace and failed to minimize the risk there.

       Whakaari Management will be sentenced in February, along with the six other parties that have been found guilty. They each face fines of up to 1.5 million New Zealand dollars, or about $876,000.

       Yan Zhuang is a reporter in The New York Times's Australia bureau, based in Melbourne. More about Yan Zhuang

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