Health and safety at an event is the responsibility of the organiser.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the event organiser is legally responsible for ensuring the health and safety of all event staff, participants, spectators, contractors, subcontractors and any event delivery staff working within the event site.
In order to get approval for your event to be held on Council-owned land, your Health and Safety Plan must include the following to align with the Act:
Emergency response plan
What will happen in an emergency and who will do it? Event emergency plans should address the same basic requirements, to:
- get people away from immediate danger
- providing first aid and medical assistance
- summon and assist emergency services
- onsite emergency response, i.e. use of fire extinguishers
- handle casualties
- deal with the displaced / non-injured (e.g. at a festival with camping)
- liaise with the emergency services and other authorities (and, where the situation is serious, hand over responsibility for the incident / emergency)
- traffic management, including emergency vehicles
- providing first aid and medical assistance
- incident control
- protect property.
Evacuation procedures
What will happen in an evacuation, who will do it and how will people know what to do? Procedures for staff and volunteers to follow in an evacuation should include:
- raising the alarm and informing the public
- summoning emergency services
- crowd management, including evacuation, where necessary - this may involve a full or partial evacuation of the event site
- evacuation meeting point
- evacuation of people with disabilities
- liaison with emergency services.
Your Health and Safety Plan must be specific to the event and the site. It should be reviewed and updated after each event.
The Dunedin City Council (DCC) will not approve a previous event Health and Safety Plan without evidence it has been reviewed and appropriately updated for the specific event.
First aid
Whatever the size of your event, it is essential you provide first aid facilities. This can be in the form of volunteers or organisers with a current first aid certificate, or a contracted company.
All first aiders should be easily contactable during the event by radios or mobile phones.
For summer events, some of the most common first aid issues will be from hot, sunny weather - sun stroke, dehydration, sun burn, fainting, etc. You can reduce the number of incidents by following a few simple steps.
Check out how to run a SunSmart event (new window).
Water safety
Dunedin is surrounded by water, whether at a beach, near the harbour or on a river. Events held on or near these locations are advised to seek advice and support from Surf Life Saving New Zealand to ensure event organisers are confident with water safety best practice.
For open water swim events, such as ocean swimming and triathlons, Surf Life Saving New Zealand have developed recommended minimum guidelines for open water swimming event safety. Further information can be found on the Surf Life Saving NZ website (new window).
Beaches can't be booked as an event space, however, reserves near the area can. Please talk with the Events team if you wish to hold an event on a beach.
If your event is to be held on the Otago Harbour, an application must be submitted to the Harbour Master (new window) no later than 18 days prior to the event.