Surely if a helicopter is running it is the operators responsibility to secure the area around the helicopter. If you can’t protect your passengers and don’t have ground crew to handle them then shut the thing down! We all know perfectly sensible people will do the strangest things when disembarking a helicopter.
On another note, I was surprised that a charter was being undertaken on that route by a single engine helicopter. While technically just about possible by flying within the coastal corridor, a quick trawl of the operators Flightradar track history seems to show they are cutting corners and flying direct on many of the overwater routes.