The Whangārei Boys' High School Board of Trustees was charged and sentenced after the death of fifteen-year-old Karnin Petera.
Karnin Petera, 15, died on 9 May 2023 during a school trip to Abbey Caves in Whangārei, when torrential rain flooded the caves and put the group in grave danger. Sixteen other students and two supervisors survived. It's a case every board of trustees in the country needs to understand.
WorkSafe New Zealand charged the Whangārei Boys' High School Board under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The board pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to meet its duties to workers and to others, exposing them to a risk of death or serious injury. In September 2024 Judge Greg Davis in the Whangārei District Court ordered the board to pay more than $500,000 in reparation and just over $10,000 in costs. He set a fine of about $300,000 and then remitted it because the board couldn't pay, noting the harm a fine could do to education at the school, including for the boys who survived.
What does HSWA 2015 have to say?
Section 52 of the Act, Liability of certain office holders, says:
(1) An office holder listed in subsection (2), when acting in that capacity, does not commit an offence under section 47, 48, or 49 for a failure to comply with the duty imposed by section 44 (duties of officers).
(2) The office holders are:
(a) a member of the governing body of a territorial authority or regional council elected in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001:
(b) a member of a local board elected or appointed under the Local Electoral Act 2001:
(c) a member of a community board elected or appointed in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001:
(d) a member of a school board appointed or elected under the Education and Training Act 2020.
(3) In this section:
board, in relation to a school, has the same meaning as in section 10(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020; community board means a board established under section 49(1) of the Local Government Act 2002; local authority and local board have the same meanings as in section 5(1) of the Local Government Act 2002.
That means school board members still carry an officer's duty of due diligence, however they don't commit an offence under sections 47 to 49 if they fail to meet it. The charges in this case were laid against the board as the PCBU, not against the individual members.
Company directors and other officers have no such protection and should be able to show evidence that they've met their due diligence duty.
For school boards and companies alike, this incident serves as a critical reminder of the importance of health and safety measures that work on the day.
WorkSafe's findings are worth every board's time. MetService had issued an orange heavy rain warning a full day before the trip and the school's own risk assessment said the trip would be cancelled if heavy rain warnings were issued, yet there was no shared understanding of what heavy rain meant or when a trip would be called off. WorkSafe also found the board had ineffective oversight of high-risk activities and critical decisions and that the school's emergency planning hadn't identified the risk of rising water trapping students in the caves.
For any board, school or company, the lesson is to check that what the risk assessment says will happen is what actually happens when the call has to be made on the day. WorkSafe's head of inspectorate Rob Pope said there must be “gold standard risk management” whenever schools take students outdoors and urged school boards to review their oversight of outdoor education.
Watch Matt's take on the case, recorded when the charges were first laid:
Frequently Asked Questions About Board of Trustees Health and Safety Duties
Is a school board of trustees a PCBU under HSWA?
A school board is the PCBU for a state or state-integrated school under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and owes the primary duty of care to workers, students and visitors so far as is reasonably practicable. Boards of trustees have been called school boards since the Education and Training Act 2020 came into force.
Can individual board of trustees members be prosecuted under HSWA?
Board members can't be prosecuted for failing their officer duty of due diligence. Section 52 of the Act says elected or appointed members of a school board don't commit an offence under sections 47 to 49 for failing to meet the duty in section 44. The board itself can still be prosecuted as the PCBU, as happened in the Whangārei Boys' High School case.
What happened in the Whangārei Boys' High School case?
Karnin Petera, 15, died on 9 May 2023 when floodwater filled Abbey Caves during a school trip. The board pleaded guilty to two charges under HSWA and in September 2024 was ordered to pay more than $500,000 in reparation and just over $10,000 in costs. The judge remitted a fine of about $300,000 because the board couldn't pay it.
About the Author
Matt Jones is the founder of Advanced Safety and a HASANZ-registered health and safety consultant. He's a Professional Member of NZISM and holds a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health.
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Latest update: 5 November 2026
