By Rosanne Maloney

Copyright abc

A Great Barrier Reef tourism operator has been fined $60,000 after pleading guilty to a workplace health and safety breach following the death of a passenger.

British tourist Cameron Shaw, 25, died while on a snorkelling tour with two friends on the Reef Experience boat at Saxon Reef, north-east of Cairns, in October 2022.

Mr Shaw’s parents were watching the hearing in the Cairns Magistrate Court on Friday over video link from the UK, as Hostel Reef Trips Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to a category 2 charge of breaching workplace health and safety obligations.

Prosecutor Tom Ward said the charge did not relate to the company causing the death, but its failure to launch a search after Mr Shaw’s friends repeatedly reported him missing.

The court heard shortly after arriving at the reef on October 24, Mr Shaw and his friends undertook an introductory dive before they began snorkelling in an area monitored by a staff member.

When the dive group was called back to the boat, Mr Shaw’s friends alerted crew members twice after they realised he was missing, but there was no attempt by staff to start a search.

During lunch, the court heard Mr Shaw still had not returned, and friends again notified the crew.

By this time, the tour operator had already been told Mr Shaw’s body was found floating in the water near a private boat.

Mr Shaw’s death was found to be the result of natural causes.

However, prosecutor Tom Ward said the company had no adequate procedure for missing snorkellers, which meant every passenger was put at risk.

“It’s only the defendant who had responsibility for implementing that safety procedure.”

He said Mr Shaw’s body had floated one kilometre away in about 40 minutes.

Mr Ward said the company should have searched for Mr Shaw as soon as the alarm was raised.

“Where a passenger reports another passenger missing, or where a passenger fails to report to a crew member or where a passenger is suspected to be missing,” he said.

Company changes policy

Hostel Reef Trip’s lawyer Brydie Bilic said her client accepted the facts of the charge and had since revised its safety manual to include specific triggers for missing snorkellers.

However, she argued the relevant industry code did not, and still does not, set out such requirements.

She described the offence as “an honest error” rather than a callous disregard for safety.

As Magistrate James Morton sentenced the company, he noted Mr Shaw’s family watching by video and the harm caused by their son’s death.

“No amount of money or no amount of outcome will replace their son,” Magistrate Morton said.

Magistrate Morton said the company’s changes to its safety manual were appropriate and its early plea of guilty showed remorse.

He said the fine was not for “personal deterrence” but instead “general deterrence” for other operators, given the number of people accessing Great Barrier Reef tours each year.

He said “all passengers on that day were exposed to the risk”, which only became apparent after Mr Shaw’s death.

The company has been ordered to pay $60,000, with additional court costs of $1,500 and fees of $101.40.”