Skifield owner NZSki was "put on notice" about the risks posed by a wood and metal fence on Coronet Peak, five years before a Queenstown woman died after skiing into it, a judge says.
The company, which also owns The Remarkables and Mt Hutt skifields, was sentenced to nearly $600,000 in penalties yesterday in relation to the death of Anita Graf in 2019.
The 60-year-old could not be revived after skiing into an unpadded fence post at the bottom of Sugar’s Run on the morning of September 21.
After a trial in the Queenstown District Court in April, the company was found guilty and convicted in August on a Health and Safety at Work Act charge of exposing Ms Graf to risk of death or serious injury by failing to adequately assess the risks posed by the fence.
At yesterday’s sentencing, Judge Rea imposed a fine of $440,000 after taking account of NZSki’s co-operation with WorkSafe and its installation of safety catch net fencing in front of the fence, and at two other locations on the skifield, after the accident.
The company must pay emotional harm reparation of $130,000 to the victim’s family, and prosecution costs of $28,000.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.
Ms Graf, a long-time Queenstown resident and mother of four, was an expert skier who had previously worked at Coronet Peak as a ski instructor.
Her children and sister did not want their victim impact statements read out in court
However, Judge Rea said it had been his "sad task" to read them.
The company was alerted to the risks posed by the fence in a 2014 document prepared by a ski patroller, but failed to carry out a "proper, documented risk assessment", he said.
The document, discovered on a computer during WorkSafe's investigation, identified 28 fence posts, metal deer fencing and strainers as being ``very likely to be skied into at high speed''.
However, the ski area manager at the time recommended to the company’s board in 2015 that only nine posts be padded.
It was clear the company’s health and safety system "broke down" in this instance and chief executive Paul Anderson described his reaction at learning of the document’s existence as a "WTF moment".
Mr Anderson told the Otago Daily Times the company had been found guilty of failing to document a risk assessment of the fence, rather than failing to mitigate the hazard it had posed.
"We’ve not been found guilty of not doing something on the mountain. We’ve been found guilty of not documenting a risk assessment, and that’s an important point to distinguish."
The company had argued at trial it did carry out a risk assessment of the fence prior to Ms Graf’s death, but the judge had found it was not adequate
Asked if the company would appeal the sentence, Mr Anderson said it was "not really the time to think about that".
