The death of a teenager who hit her head at a Christchurch ice rink last year, prompted IceInline Alexandra to ensure helmets were made available for all schools that use the facility.

But there is no requirement for skaters to use them during a public session.

Kymani Hiley-Hetaraka died in hospital two days after hitting her head on the ice in July 2024, and her parents are disappointed that the coroner will not open an inquiry into her death.

In findings released on Wednesday, Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame said she was satisfied that the issues had been adequately established through a WorkSafe investigation, which concluded no

further action should be taken against anyone involved in the accident.

The WorkSafe investigation found no breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

While there was no legislation requiring the use of helmets or any other safety equipment while recreational ice skating at Alpine Ice, the rink has made changes and now requires all skaters wear head

protection.

IceInline Alexandra said it has always been the rule since schools started coming to the ice rink, that all pupils must wear helmets. 

The rink has hundreds of pupils visiting from schools all over Central Otago every season, and emails are sent out to remind them of the requirement.

But since the tragic event at Alpine Ice last year, the Alexandra ice rink updated its signage, and purchased 200 new helmets - in the past the school pupils brought their own.

The Queenstown Ice Arena and Dunedin Ice Stadium now both require skaters to wear either a helmet or a concussion headband before entering the rink.

IceInline Alexandra chair Murray Miller said they don’t make it compulsory for people to wear helmets during a public session, because they have skaters of different abilities using the rink.

“The issue is if they are competent figure skaters, you can’t make them wear one. And we also can’t make our curlers wear them either.”

But he strongly advised anybody new to skating to put a helmet on before entering the rink.