WorkSafe will formally charge a party with endangering students’ lives while on a school trip to Taupō in December last year.
In a statement, area investigation manager, Danielle Henry said the incident was a life-threatening situation which had the potential for multiple deaths.
“We are unable to identify the charged party, as it has the right to seek name suppression when the case is first called in the Auckland District Court on 14 January.”
However, Te Ao Māori News understands the charged party is a kura kaupapa Māori from Auckland.
Two charges have been filed in the Auckland District Court and the case is expected to be heard in mid-January next year.
According to a New Zealand Herald article at the time, “a large group of school children, most of whom were allegedly not wearing life jackets, had to be rescued from the Waikato River after attempting a popular Zeal but often dangerous ‘river float’ through Taupō.”
“The group of 14 students and adults became trapped in bushes on a bend in the river. Two kayakers from a guided tour also needed help after they capsized while attempting to avoid the stricken group.”
The article says that the Taupō police, harbourmaster, and St John Hato Hone, among others, had to be called upon to rescue the group, with Mercury Energy also having to shut off the control gates at the outlet from Lake Taupō.
WorkSafe recently completed its investigation into the Waikato River float rescue.
It said it had had to highlight “too many times” that effective risk management was a non-negotiable part of the outdoor education experience
The charges that have been filed under sections 36(1)(a), 48(1), (2)(c), and 36(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 are:
- being a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed workers to a risk of death and serious injury arising from a river float activity on the Waikato River; and
- being a (PCBU), having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of other persons is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or organisation, namely the river float activity on the Waikato River, did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed other persons to a risk of death or serious injury.
The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.
A lawyer representing the school declined to comment when approached by Te Ao Māori News.
In a statement, a member of the school’s board said, “E mahi ana te rūnanganui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori ki te taha o WorkSafe, kia kore e puta mai anō tēnei raru.”
