Technical Adviser — Mark Abraham
Technical Adviser record for Mercury Travel Ltd's Safety Management System, covering credentials, SMS contributions, track oversight, independence and declaration.
Mercury Travel Ltd · 19 November 2025
1. Professional credentials & experience (21+ years)
| Credential / experience | Details |
|---|---|
| Ownership & operation | Founder and Managing Director of Mercury Travel Ltd (2004–2025) — 21 consecutive years operating a wholesale travel company throughout New Zealand. |
| Practical experience | Personally conducted over 2,000 commercial passenger trips in all weather and road conditions across the North and South Islands. Directly responsible for vehicle selection, driver training, route risk assessments and incident investigations. |
2. How the Technical Adviser contributes
| Activity | How Mark Abraham advises / contributes |
|---|---|
| Hazard & risk identification | Leads quarterly route and activity risk workshops with drivers and operations staff. Personally reviews every new route before it is added to the schedule. Maintains and updates the Hazard Register. |
| Risk assessment & control selection | Runs the Risk Review Panel (Mark Abraham + Withers Coachlines CEO Blair Withers + operations manager Ravit). Uses NZTA / WorkSafe bow-tie methodology to score likelihood and consequence, then selects and approves controls (engineering, administrative, PPE). |
| Training & competency | Designs and delivers in-house staff induction and annual refresher training. |
| Incident investigation | Lead investigator for all notifiable and high-potential incidents. Uses ICAM methodology and presents findings and recommendations to the SMS Review Group. |
| Continuous improvement | Presents the quarterly SMS Performance Report to the leadership team with trend analysis and improvement actions. |
Monitoring & auditing of walking tracks
As Technical Adviser, Mark Abraham personally oversees the risk assessment, ongoing monitoring and safety standards for every walking track used on Mercury Travel's inbound wholesale programmes. Walking activities are deliberately limited to five or six carefully selected tracks that are known intimately and can be controlled to the highest safety standard:
- Punakaiki Pancake Rocks & Blowholes Track
- Fox Glacier Valley Walk (terminal face track)
- Franz Josef Glacier Valley Walk (terminal face track)
- Lake Matheson Reflection Walk
- Aoraki/Mt Cook — Kea Point & Hooker Valley Tracks
Every one of these tracks has been walked at least once every two years — most years twice, once in summer and once in winter — across the past 21 years of operating Mercury Travel. This personal reconnaissance ensures immediate awareness of any change in track condition, signage, river levels, rockfall zones, boardwalk damage or new hazards. All observations are documented, photographed and fed directly into the Hazard Register and pre-trip briefings.
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
While the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is occasionally included in wholesale programmes, Mercury Travel does not lead this walk itself. Adrift Tongariro or Tongariro Crossing Shuttles & Guides are exclusively contracted — fully qualified, Department of Conservation concession-holding professional guiding companies with their own audited safety management systems. This ensures the highest level of expertise and mountain safety for what is a serious alpine day walk.
By restricting the track list, and using professional guides for Tongariro, Mercury Travel maintains genuine technical oversight and can confidently declare that every walking activity it sells has been personally inspected, risk-assessed and monitored by the Technical Adviser at least every 24 months.
3. Independence & objectivity statement
Mark Abraham is the owner/operator; his 21 years of direct operational involvement provide the technical competence and objectivity required under the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016. All critical safety decisions are documented, peer-reviewed by the SMS Review Group, and independently audited every three years by an external WorkSafe-recognised auditor.
4. Declaration
I, Mark Abraham, confirm that I meet and exceed the definition of Technical Adviser under the Safety Management System for Mercury Travel Ltd, and will continue to provide competent, evidence-based advice on all safety-related technical matters.
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