VenueSafe

VenueSafe best practices

• Floor plans and capacities

  All meeting rooms and theatre spaces operate at 100% seated capacity. All non-seated event spaces and styles operate at a standard venue capacity of 1 person per 1.5 square metre density.

  Floor plans, density limits and capacities are subject to restrictions per the Chief Health Officer's directions.

  For more information about the maximum capacity per room, don't hesitate to contact your Event Planner or Account Manager.

  

• Cleaning and hygiene

  Good hygiene is critical for mitigating the spread of COVID-19, and it’s everyone’s responsibility.

  Hand washing

  We encourage all visitors, customers, employees and contractors to often wash their hands with soap. You can find sink facilities located throughout the venue. This includes back of house areas and public restrooms.

  We've put up signs communicating the importance of hand washing. You'll find them displayed throughout the venue and at hand washing facilities.

  Sanitisation stations

  Can’t find hand washing facilities? We encourage all visitors, customers, contractors and employees to use hand sanitiser.

  You'll find sanitisation stations containing at least 60 per cent alcohol at MCEC. We've put these up throughout the venue at entry points, customer service desks and other high traffic areas.

  Please also consider carrying pocket hand sanitiser to use when travelling to MCEC and within the venue.

  Cleaning procedures

  We have a strong partnership with our contracted cleaning service provider, IKON Services. They’re an industry leader for professional cleaning and sterilisation services.

  We already have a high standard for cleaning and disinfection, and IKON are building on this. They have increased the frequency of routine cleaning throughout the venue and updated their Cleaning Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

  This means increased sanitisation of high frequency touch point areas. These include table and counter tops, door handles, toilets, bathroom doors, taps, handrails, EFTPOS machines and elevator buttons.

  Restrooms

  We've increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting restrooms across the venue.

  Event organisers should aim to meet physical distancing requirements in restrooms. They can do this by staggering start, finish and break times, which we can help with.

  Personal protective equipment (PPE)

  Face masks are recommended when you can’t maintain physical distance of 1.5m of from one another in indoor spaces.

  Visitors, customers and contractors can purchase a range of PPE from the vending machines on the concourse and loading docks. This includes face masks and individual sanitiser.

• Food and beverage

  All food is prepared under a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) accredited system. In addition to our standard food safety policies and procedures, our food and beverage team take the following precautions:

  • Increased frequency of cleaning and sanitisation across all high touch points.

  • Additional sanitisation stations with signage in all designated catering areas.

  • Regular hand washing and sanitising, wearing gloves during food preparation and physical distancing.

  All suppliers and contractors must comply with and follow all regulations in their Food Safety Plans. These must be registered with their local council.

• Cashless venue and contactless ticketing

  Our three in-house cafes (Shed Cafe, Plenary Cafe and Goldfields Cafe + Bar) have been cashless since July 2019.

  We have extended this practice to event specific food and beverage outlets including pop-ups and kiosks.

  We encourage event organisers to implement contactless ticketing measures. Our team will work to ensure a fast entry into the event, using electronic scanning or visual inspection of tickets or lanyards.

• HVAC

  Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning

  To maximise air quality, we continue to maintain HVAC essential safety systems. These are in accordance with regulations, ensuring the ongoing compliance of our buildings.

  To increase fresh airflow, the following measures are in place:

  • Our venue maintains the Building Code minimum outdoor air rates during unoccupied periods to ensure there are no periods of stagnation.

  • Increase air ventilation rates during occupied periods to as high as 100 per cent outside. We maintain and monitor this through the Building Automated System.

• Contractors and suppliers

  We encourage contractors and suppliers to make use of sanitisation stations. These are available at the loading docks and distribution points, especially for them. All employees have received training on coronavirus (COVID-19) safety and sanitisation protocols. Department-specific procedures and training have also been provided.

• Safe practices at events

  The following practices are in place for all event types. We will work alongside customers and contractors to ensure a COVIDSafe event.

  Attendee management

  All foyers servicing event spaces must adhere to maximum capacities based on the one person per 1.5 square metre density limit.

  Alcohol service and risk mitigation

  We have stringent practices in place around responsible service of alcohol (RSA). All employees are trained in the safe service of alcohol.

  Our venue requires an RSA officer/s to oversee the management of RSA when alcohol is available and assist event security in monitoring crowd behaviours.

  We operate as a cashless venue to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

  Dance floors

  • Dance floor standard capacities apply.

  • As standard, dance floors are manned by event security.

  • Alcohol and glassware are not permitted on dance floors.

  Exhibitions

  As standard, 3m aisles are required throughout Exhibition Bays 1–26 exhibitions.

  Final event exhibition floorplan will be required from the stand builder for our review in adherence to one person per 1.5 square metre rule.

  • Occupancy

  Exhibitions must always adhere to 1 person per 1.5 square metre occupancy.

  • Exhibitor food and beverage sampling

  Exhibitors are permitted to provide food and beverage samples provided they align to our food and beverage sampling guidelines (found in our exhibitor resources hub ) and Streatrader requirements.

  We require proof of current Victorian RSA compliance for any exhibitor beverage sampling.

  • Cleaning and sanitisation

  Exhibition organisers and exhibitors must align with our increased cleaning and sanitisation standards.

  We encourage each exhibitor booth to provide sanitiser option.

  We recommend exhibitor booths sanitise high touch points frequently.