Venue induction and safety

Emergencies

Dial ext. 6666 (or +61 3 9235 8333 from any phone)

In any emergency, notify your event security provider immediately or dial 6666 from the nearest internal phone.

MCEC Security Control Centre will dial 000 to coordinate emergency service response as required.

For non-emergency security enquiries, dial ext. 8333 (or 9235 8333 from any phone).

Fire

Familiarise yourself with the nearest fire exit and follow the warden’s instructions. Do not use the lifts.

Please note that only trained security personnel or wardens are permitted to use fire extinguishers.

Medical emergencies

In any medical emergency, notify your event security or first aid provider immediately. You can also report first aid/medical incidents to the Security Control Centre by calling 6666 from an internal phone or +61 3 9235 8333 .

Shelter within the venue

Some emergencies require you to stay indoors. If this happens, find a safe place away from windows or doors and wait for instruction from the wardens or security.

In the event of an emergency, one of two alarms may sound:

Alert alarm: “Beep! Beep! Beep!”

If you hear the alert alarm, remain where you are and wait for further instructions

Evacuation alarm: “Whoop! Whoop!”

If you hear the evacuation alarm, leave the building immediately. A warden will direct you to the safest evacuation point and let you know if/when it is safe to return.

In case of an emergency evacuation, a warden will direct you to the safest evacuation point.

Note: The evacuation assembly points are subject to change at the discretion of the chief fire warden. This depends on the location of the emergency, type of emergency, crowd density and wind condition.

Assembly areas include:

Melbourne Convention Centre

1. E2 – Siddeley Street promenade, northern side of Yarra River. Access via Seafarers Bridge.

2. E1 – MCEC grassed area between Yarra River (South) and MEC Yarra Doors 1 & 2.

3. E3 – Munro Street car park. Access via the exhibition bays, rear of MEC.

Melbourne Exhibition Centre - Doors 1-10

1. E1 – MCEC grassed area between Yarra River (South) and MEC Yarra Doors 1 & 2.

2. E2 – Siddeley Street promenade, northern side of Yarra River. Access via Seafarers Bridge.

3. E3 – Munro Street car park. Access via the exhibition bays, rear of MEC.

Melbourne Exhibition Centre - Doors 11-21

1. E3 – Munro Street car park. Access via the exhibition bays, rear of MEC.

2. E1 – MCEC grassed area between Yarra River (South) and MEC Yarra Doors 1 & 2.

3. E2 – Siddeley Street promenade, northern side of Yarra River. Access via Seafarers Bridge.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.