Hirer Guide
Hirer Guide
This Guide has been developed to ensure your event at Mystery Creek Events Centre (MCEC) runs smoothly, safely, and successfully. It sets out the minimum safety standards and key operational requirements you must meet when planning and executing your event.
The primary objectives of this document are to:
Ensure a Safe Environment: Clearly communicate MCEC’s health and safety (H&S) expectations for all Hirer workers (including employees, volunteers and contractors) to ensure a safe and healthy environment for everyone on site.
Facilitate Compliance: Help you meet your obligations and ensure compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) and other applicable New Zealand legislation (refer Legal References section).Our approach aligns with WorkSafe NZ's best practice guidelines for PCBUs (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) working together.i
Scope and Limitations
This handbook does not replace or supersede your legal duty of care.
As the Hirer, you remain the principal PCBU for your event.
This guide does not take away your responsibility to:
Identify and Manage Risks: You must still develop your own robust processes to identify and manage all hazards and risks specific to your event activities.
Stay Legally Compliant: This document does not list every statutory or regulatory requirement that may apply to your specific event. You are responsible for ensuring your processes remain current and comply with all applicable legal requirements associated with your event, which may include specific legislation related to animals, food, alcohol, or activities taking place.
Safety Commitment
Our shared commitment
As the venue operator (MCEC), we are committed to providing a safe environment for all workers (employees, volunteers and contractors)ii, and visitors (other persons)iii. We retain duties over fixtures and fittings at the venue.
MCEC recognises its duty of care to all parties and is committed to maintaining the highest standards of safety and service. The success of our health and safety efforts relies on everyone working together. To achieve this, all parties must understand their responsibilities and obligations.
As the Hirer, you are designated as a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) and have a primary Duty of Care under HSWA.
Your commitment includes:
- Ensuring the health and safety of everyone working at the venue.
- Implementing systems to reduce the risk of injury.
- Complying with MCEC's Health & Safety management procedures and directions.
- Reporting any incidents, accidents, injuries, or hazards and risks to MCEC employees.
- Supplying any required Health & Safety documentation to the MCEC Venue Representative.
Policies and Procedures
Site rules
Site Safety requirements
Pre event safety checks may be conducted. Non- compliant equipment will not be allowed and MCEC staff may request work to stop if actions are in breach.
🚧 Ground Penetration
No digging or ground penetration (e.g. pegging marquees) between red lines, these indicate underground services. All ground penetration must be signed off by a MCEC Representative before work commences.
🦺Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
High- visibility clothing (vest, shirt, jacket) must be worn as the outer layer. If working in hours of darkness reflective materials must be clearly visible.
Wear appropriate PPE for the task at hand (e.g. harness for working at heights).
Covered shoes to be worn at all times, no jandals or sandals are permitted.
📑Site Rules
Site speed limit: 15km/h. All road rules apply. Pedestrians have right of way.
No children under 15 are allowed on site during pack in/ pack out.
Dogs are not permitted, except guide dogs.
⚡Electrical Safety
All electrical leads must display a current test and tag (within the last 12 months).
Electrical work must be conducted by a registered electrician and authorised by MCEC to connect to venue power supply.
Cables in public/ traffic areas must be protected by cable covers.
Vending units with electrical supplies must have a current Electrical Compliance Certificate.
⚠️Gas Safety
Gas bottles must be secured to prevent falling.
They must have a current test date, be undamaged and leak free.
⛺Structure Placement
Units, stalls and pop ups must be in approved areas and must not block egress routes.
All structures must be weighted or pegged on all legs.
🏡Housekeeping
Keep the worksite clean, and free of hazards; fire egress routes must also be kept clear.
Remove all rubbish and debris before leaving; use provided waste bins/ skips/ cages and flatten cardboard before disposal.
Hazardous liquid waste (oils, chemicals) must be removed from site – never tipped down drains, onto grass or into the river.Site Rules
Site speed limit: 15km/h. All road rules apply. Pedestrians have right of way.
No children under 15 are allowed on site during pack in/ pack out.
Dogs are not permitted, except guide dogs.
⚡Electrical Safety
All electrical leads must display a current test and tag (within the last 12 months).
Electrical work must be conducted by a registered electrician and authorised by MCEC to connect to venue power supply.
Cables in public/ traffic areas must be protected by cable covers.
Vending units with electrical supplies must have a current Electrical Compliance Certificate.
⚠️Gas Safety
Gas bottles must be secured to prevent falling.
They must have a current test date, be undamaged and leak free.
⛺Structure Placement
Units, stalls and pop ups must be in approved areas and must not block egress routes.
All structures must be weighted or pegged on all legs.
🏡Housekeeping
Keep the worksite clean, and free of hazards; fire egress routes must also be kept clear.
Remove all rubbish and debris before leaving; use provided waste bins/ skips/ cages and flatten cardboard before disposal.
Hazardous liquid waste (oils, chemicals) must be removed from site – never tipped down drains, onto grass or into the river.
Health and Safety documentation
All Hirers and their contractors involved in delivering works that presents a risk to any person’s safety or health is required to submit pre-event safety documentation. It is the expectation that health & safety documentation be submitted to the MCEC Venue Representative, in timeframes outlined in the table below. We will provide feedback where applicable to help both parties meet any overlapping or consultation duties*.
If the Hirer utilises sub-contracted workers (including labour hire), you must either obtain appropriate health & safety documentation from the sub-contractor and ensure the sub-contracted workers are inducted, trained & supervised.
Pre Event H&S Documentation Submission checklist:
| Action | Required Deadline | Documentation Required |
|---|---|---|
| Health & Safety Documentation | 1 month prior | The Hirer must provide their overall safety plan for the event. Depending on the size and complexity of the event, this maybe in the form of a Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP), Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS), Job Safety Analysis (JSA), or similar, specific to your activities at MCEC. Document must identify hazards and control measures. You may add to our Venue Specific Hazard Identification template in the next section. |
| Fire wardens (Evacuation) | 1 week prior | The Hirer will be provided with an Evacuation Plan for all buildings in use. Wardens must be appointed for each building and recorded in the plan including names and contact information |
| Insurance | 1 month prior | Evidence of Public Liability Insurance (as required) to cover the event. |
| Induction | As agreed with MCEC Representative | A plan for how any contracted workers will have critical H&S information communicated to them. The Hirer may use the MCEC standard contractor induction and fill in editable fields. HERE |
| Floorplans, site plans | 1 month prior | Detailing how buildings and spaces will be used. |
| Notification of any of the following involved in your event: Candles, dry ice (smoke effects), pyrotechnics, lasers, open flames, hot works, animals onsite, excessive noise generating activities, or drone operation. | 1 month prior | If applicable (See sections on specific items). |
| Copy of Notification to WorkSafe NZ | 1 month prior | If applicable (See Notifiable Works section), indication of if Notifiable Works will occur is required 1 month in advance, however actual notifications must be provided to the MCEC Venue Representative at least 1 week prior to the activity occurring. |
| Engineering or rigging plans | As agreed with MCEC Representative | If applicable |
| Hazardous substance/chemical registers (including LPG) | As agreed with MCEC Representative | If applicable |
| Licensing/ qualification of workers | As agreed with MCEC Representative | If applicable (If using venue owned or shared equipment/machinery) |
| Traffic Management Plan | 2 weeks prior | If applicable, a copy of your TMP must be provided to MCEC. See section on Traffic Management. |
* Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, s28, ss31 – 34. No contracting out, Duties not transferable, Person may have more than one duty, more than 1 person may have same duty, and PCBU must consult other PCBU’s with the same duty.
Risk Management
Your Health & Safety documentation (SSSP/SWMS/JSA) must detail a risk assessment that considers every aspect of your event and activities.v
- Identify hazards and risks.vi
- Determine how serious the risk is (consequences) and the likelihood of it occurring.
- Decide on the Reasonably Practicable actions to manage the risk (eliminate or minimise)vii.
- Review the process and control measures to ensure risks are adequately addressed
As an example, a copy of our Venue Specific Hazard Identification can be found HERE
Which you may add your own event specific hazards and risk to.
The documentation you submit must be:
- Specific to the tasks/activities taking place.
- Specific to the work environment at Mystery Creek.
- Detail all known/expected risks and the control methods that will be implemented.
- Provides sufficient emergency response if the risk does occur.
- Identify how incident’s, accidents are reported, including reporting to MCEC.
Notifiable Work - Worksafe NZ
If your event involves Notifiable Work, you must indicate this as early as possible in the event process (1 month prior). MCEC requires you to forward a copy of any planned Notifiable Work Notification to the MCEC Venue Representative a week before the specific work activity occurs to help ensure the WorkSafe NZ minimum notification period is met (24 hours). *Unplanned Notifiable Work, must have the WorkSafe notification provided to the MCEC Venue Representative as soon as possible, but still at least 24 hours prior to the specific work activity occurring.
Activities most likely to be Notifiable Work include:ix
- Any rigging or construction work that involves lifting over 500 kg over 5 metres in height.
- Work where a worker could fall 5 metres or more.
- Erecting or dismantling scaffolding with a risk of falling 5 metres or more.
The notification duration must cover both pack-in and pack-out activities.
*Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995, r2, Interpretation – “Notifiable works” and r26(3) Notification.
Emergency and Evacuation Procedures
We have Emergency Evacuation Procedures in place for buildings available to be hired which will be provided to you by the MCEC Venue representative. The Hirer should take this information in consideration when developing their emergency plans and will need to consider the impact of any combination of buildings, the expected attendee profile, pack in and pack out activities, outdoor areas used and if overnight camping is occurring.
The MCEC Venue Representative will brief the Hirer on the essential aspects of the evacuation processes and ensure they are aware of the location of fire alarm panels, any critical equipment and any warden identification required to be worn. It is the Hirers responsibility to ensure Wardens are appointed and trained in the evacuation process for the event area. All workers are expected to familiarise themselves with emergency procedures, exit pathways, assembly points, alarm call point positions and firefighting equipment.
Emergency Access
You must plan for how emergency services will access the site (especially when gates are closed or locked) and how they will be directed to the specific location of the emergency.
Controls may include having overnight security staff at Gate 2, liaison with MCEC employees to open specific gates, or having a person ready to escort emergency services to the specific incident location.
Evacuation Protocol (General):
Upon hearing an alarm, all persons should evacuate the area immediately. Follow all reasonable directions from the Wardens, MCEC employees or Emergency Services personnel.
Do not re-enter buildings/areas until the all-clear is given by Emergency Service personnel or the Building Warden.
Incident and Accident Reporting
- All accidents and incidents must be recorded and reported to the MCEC Venue Representative as soon as possible. A thorough investigation must be completed for all accidents, incidents, and near misses that could have been of a serious nature.
- For Notifiable Eventsx, the incident scene must not be disturbed prior to advice from WorkSafe, with exceptions for providing assistance or making the worksite safe.
Exceptions below:
- Aiding an injured person.
- Removing a deceased person.
- Ensure the worksite is made safe so the incident or other incidents do not have the potential to cause further harm to persons.
- Following instruction from a Police Officer or WorkSafe NZ inspector or other authorised emergency service personnel.
Hirers are expected to complete the MCEC incident report form or their own if they contain the equivalent information. Copies must be shared with the MCEC Venue Representative as required, and the Hirer is expected to assist with any ongoing investigation that may be required.
Damage to venue, equipment or property
The Hirer is responsible for ensuring their contractors protect the venue including floors, furniture, and fixtures from being stained, marked, or damaged during any work.
Any damage to the venue, property or equipment caused by the Hirer or their contractors must be reported immediately to MCEC Venue Representative. The Hirer will be liable to front the cost of all necessary repairs resulting from such damage as outlined in the Venue Hire Agreement
First Aid
An appropriate number of first aid certified personnel shall be present during, pack in, the event period and packing out, the event taking into account the risk profile of activities and expected number of workers and attendees. It is strongly recommended to engage a recognised service provider for first aid during a large-scale event or where the risk would suggest it appropriate.
First Aid equipment is made available by the venue onsite at a designated location as agreed by both parties. These include a First Aid Kit and defibrillator. The venue also has a wheelchair and rescue chair available. The location of First Aid services should be communicated to all workers (induction) and event attendees and well sign posted.
All accidents and incidents must be reported to the MCEC Venue Representative as soon as possible, as per the Incident Reporting and Recording section.
Pandemic and Communicable Diseases
MCEC expects all hirers to remain up to date with public health related issues and follow guidance from the Ministry of Health or similar agencies. MCEC must be informed as soon as a Hirer becomes aware of any known or suspected public health concerns e.g. positive tests from workers or attendees for pandemics or other communicable diseases e.g. measles, campylobacter, salmonella. The Hirer is to ensure any reporting required to be followed for communicable diseases occurs.
Alcohol and Drug Policy
Hirers must guarantee that their Workers are not impaired by alcohol or drugs (including prescription drugs) that could compromise safety. If MCEC considers any person to pose a risk due to intoxication or drug influence, that individual will be instructed to leave the venue.
See Alcohol Management section for requirements of events involving alcohol.
Smoke Free Policy
All MCEC venues are non-smoking indoors. This policy is in place to protect health, comply with legal requirements and ensure non-smokers are not exposed to harmful substances. To avoid doubt, smoking also refers to vaping and similar products.
Animal Policy
All MCEC venues are non-smoking indoors. This policy is in place to protect health, comply with legal requirements and ensure non-smokers are not exposed to harmful substances. To avoid doubt, smoking also refers to vaping and similar products.
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