Following investigation into the Mangatepopo Gorge tragedy in New Zealand, where 6 students from Elim Christian College and 1 OPC staff member were killed, the NZ Department of Labour central region health and safety services manager Brett Murray said lessons ought to be learned from the tragedy.

"No employer or workplace wants to be haunted by an experience like this. And I hope that today's outcome will encourage others in the adventure tourism industry to look critically at their operations to ensure that they and their clients are never put in a similar position," he said.

The NZ Adventure Tourism industry is regulated by the Health and Safety in Employment Act. The Act includes specific requirements for operators to identify and manage hazards in a workplace.

“I would urge them to start working on this today. Because this is the kind of tragedy that can happen to anyone involved in the adventure tourism industry if they don’t manage workplace hazards properly.”

An extract about the outcome of the NZ OPC case, where they pled guilty under NZ OHS legislation, related to the following section:

Pt 2 (6) Employers to ensure safety of employees: Every employer shall take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees while at work;

and

Pt 2 (15) 5 Duties of employers to people who are not employees: Every employer shall take all practicable steps to ensure that no action or inaction of any employee while at work harms any other person.

There is equivalent NSW legislation:

Div 1 (8)   Duties of employers:

(1) Employees: An employer must ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all the employees of the employer.

(2) Others at workplace: An employer must ensure that people (other than the employees of the employer) are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the employer’s undertaking while they are at the employer’s place of work.

The fact that an outdoor education incidence has also reflected on the adventure tourism business highlights the need for ALL organisations working in the outdoor to work together on risk, safety and industry development.

For more info, see the links below.

Online media report:

Adventure tourism operators are being asked to reassess their safety measures after the outdoor centre involved in the Mangatepopo Gorge tragedy was ordered to pay $480,000 in fines and reparations.

The Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) was fined $40,000 and ordered to pay $480,000 in reparations by Judge Anne Kiernan in Auckland District Court on Friday [ 20 March ,2009] after admitting two charges under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

....

But Judge Kiernan saw the level of culpability as high.

"There is a high degree of risk in this activity, and therefore there was a high degree of responsibility to your staff and those they were supervising, especially given that they were supervising children," she said.

More info at:

 http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/outdoor-industry-told-check-safety-2574011

http://www.dol.govt.nz/News/Media/2009/opc-urged.asp