The owners of Whakaari White Island will learn this afternoon whether they breached workplace laws in the buildup to the deadly eruption in December 2019.

Twenty-two people were killed and 27 injured in the disaster.

The island is owned by the Buttle family.

In the Auckland District Court on Tuesday, Judge Evangelos Thomas will deliver a verdict on whether the family, through the company Whakaari Management, put workers and tourists at undue risk.

Reporter Amy Williams spoke to Ben Strang.