The National Emergency Management Agency [NEMA] has been awarded $40,000 in costs after a judge revealed WorkSafe stressed NEMA wouldn’t be charged in the aftermath of the Whaakari/White Island volcanic eruption.
But days before the 12-month charging period expired, WorkSafe said it had reconsidered its position and that NEMA was caught by the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
It laid charges against NEMA but those charges were eventually dismissed in the High Court, last year.
In the latest judgment by District Court Justice Evangelos Thomas, he said WorkSafe now accepted it did not have grounds to charge NEMA in the first place.