Increased scrutiny promised

Maritime New Zealand will carry out more audits on river boarding activities, following the recent prosecution of an adventure company responsible for a tourist drowning.

Black Sheep Adventures Ltd (operating as Mad Dog River Boarding) was fined $66,000 and ordered to pay reparations of $80,000 to the victim’s family (Queenstown DC, August 25) under HSE Act charges brought by MNZ. The British tourist drowned after becoming trapped against a rock while river boarding on the Kawarau River in Queenstown last April.

Steve van der Splinter, MNZ investigations manager, told Safeguard that MNZ recognised there was a need for more regular audits of these activities, and intended to carry them out before the season started this year. “This will continue on a routine basis after that.”

MNZ would also issue a safety bulletin to the white-water industry noting the key learnings from the accident. It had also last year run a river rescue training workshop focusing on safety, as part of an industry-wide review following the tragedy. Safety guidelines were developed in consultation with industry including commercial operators and guides, the Tourism Industry Association and Qualmark. The guidelines aimed to improve safety for river boarding and river sledging operations, and help build consistency throughout the industry.

Van der Splinter said there was already strong legislation in place under the HSE legislation which covered river-boarding and similar activities. “This rightfully puts the onus on operators to develop a good safety culture.”

Operators needed resource consent from local authorities, and must develop and file safe operating plans as part of their obligations under the HSE Act. It meant all operators had to take safety seriously and remain up to date with industry best practice, as “the MNZ cannot be on every trip ensuring operators are doing things safely.”

Van der Splinter said MNZ experience of other accidents in the boating sector indicated that more regulations and legislation (like licensing) did not necessarily change attitudes or behaviour towards safety, or reduce accident and fatality numbers. “In Australia for example, where there is significantly more legislation and regulation of maritime activities, accident and fatality statistics are on a par with New Zealand's”.

He said the focus was more on education and working proactively to lead and support the industry to maintain high standards and ensure best practice was followed. “We will continue to work with all parts of the maritime and white-water tourism sectors to achieve this.”

MNZ would take action against any operator it believed was not following best practice or the industry-wide standards of safety that the regulator and the public expected.

Van der Splinter said 99 percent of river boarding operators maintained high standards. “So we consider Mad Dog was the exception, rather than the rule.”

There had been a wide gap between the accepted standards practised by others and those used by Mad Dog, he said.

The MNZ investigation found several steps Mad Dog could have taken to manage hazards on the river that day including that all guides carried throw ropes and knives, and that they correctly identified hazards on the river and took action to mitigate them.

The victim’s family told media here and in Britain there was not enough regulation of the adventure tourism industry in New Zealand, and criticised what it said was a reactive rather than proactive approach.

Geoff Ensor, TIA advocacy manager, told Safeguard he was not opposed to regulation, but it was not in itself a panacea.

He noted that already some activities, like rafting, were more heavily regulated than others. But the diverse range of activities and regional differences in conditions made national standards difficult to set. “What is appropriate for one is not necessarily for the other…the equipment might need to be different.”

Ensor said since the accident there had been a lot of activity in the sector with codes of practice established, although a lot of that work was being undertaken anyway. “We have not been sitting on our hands.”

Overall he believed the sector was well managed in terms of safety but there was no room for complacency, and operators had to maintain vigilance.

Ensor said New Zealand’s good reputation in adventure tourism was not by chance, but had been built on running solid operations. Those involved were professional risk managers who took the safety of clients very seriously.

Ensor favoured “a degree” of external reviewing of adventure operations, which could include industry leaders. The TIA believed a united approach with government agencies was needed to establish and maintain best practice.

This story appeared in Safeguard Update newsletter of 7 September.

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