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The Outdoor Pursuit Centre involved in the canyoning disaster in which seven people died is being sentenced at the High Court in Auckland.
Dozens of people turned up to the sentencing and a video of proceedings was fed into the jury assembly area.
The OPC admitted in January that it failed to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of the six Elim College students and their teacher who died.
The Department of Labour had laid four charges against the centre under the Health and Safety in Employment Act. Two charges were withdrawn because the department considered they were adequately covered by the charges subject to the guilty pleas.
The OPC could face a fine of up to $250,000 on each charge but the department has called for a reasonable fine, as the centre is a charitable organisation and it feels a heavy penalty may not be in the interest of the community. The department recommended fines of $100,000 on each charge.
It told the court the canyoning trip should never have been allowed to go ahead and the gorge should have been closed to all activities that day. The department said the centre should have had more thorough weather information.
OPC chairman Rupert Wilson said the centre decided to plead guilty because of the need for closure, the financial impact and the pressures and strain on the centre. He said the most important factor in the decision was that the young people were in the care of the centre when the tragedy occurred.
The group from Elim College drowned when they were caught in a flash flood in the Mangatepopo Gorge near Turangi following heavy rain.
College principal Murray Burton has praised the centre for the
way it has accepted responsibility and made changes to its
procedures.
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