A. Yes. ECE Licensing Document Regulation 46/HS6 Heavy furniture, fixtures and equipment that could fall or topple and cause serious injury or damage are secured. Therefore, the piano must be secured to the wall or floor structure with appropriate fixings.
A. Yes. The New Zealand Building Code, and therefore by default part of licensing (which says the requirement is to comply with the building code/legislation) requires Smoke Alarms. The requirement is to have smoke detection in sleeping rooms/areas and on exit ways (within 3m of the door) from sleeping areas. This can be satisfied by either a residential battery type smoke alarm, or smoke detector connected to a fire alarm system. If your smoke alarms are connected to the fire system this will be noted in your BWOF Compliance Schedule and check regularly by your IQP. If you are unsure whether your smoke alarms connect to the Fire System/BWOF System please check your Compliance Schedule or contact your local Regional Property Coordinator. BWOF – Building Warrant of Fitness IQP – Independent Qualified Person
It is up to each individual Playcentre Parent Council to decide whether your Playcentre will be hired out and which occurrences this might be for. All Playcentre owned and MOE buildings are able to be hired out, though Ministry of Education properties cannot be hired for commercial/business purposes. A building that has a private lease may have stipulations with regards to hiring/subletting which will need to be adhered to. Please refer to the website https://www.playcentre.org.nz/current-members/property/property-and-equipment/ 12.2 for Procedures and Hire Application Forms. If you have any further queries please contact [email protected].
A. If the Playcentre Building has certain specified systems then they will be required to have a Building Warrant of Fitness (BWOF). Not every Playcentre Building will require a BWOF. The requirement for a BWOF is generally triggered when work is done on the Property that requires building consent. Some buildings may not have had any work done since the requirements were brought in and therefore do not have, or need, a BWOF.
Most common specific systems in Playcentre Buildings that require a BWOF:
- Sprinkler Systems
- Emergency Warning System (this is a hard wired fire alarm system not individual smoke alarms)
- Emergency Lighting
- Automatic Backflow Preventer
- Emergency Power System (generator)
- Final Exits
- Signs for Communication Information intended to Facilitate Evacuation
A training video explaining BWOF’s in more detail is available at https://www.playcentre.org.nz/2020-property-officer-training-videos/.
A. Sand only needs to be replaced if it is so contaminated that you can’t dig out any bits, i.e. cat faeces or lumps of playdough, there has been a flood with sewage or contaminated water or if its been wet and stagnant and is really smelly.
Playcentre sandpits generally get a lot of use and get well washed and dug over by the tamariki but it can be a good idea to turn it over at a working bee.
If sand does need to be replaced then it is recommended to use ‘grade 1 mortar sand’. Sand should be a minimum of 400mm deep but 600mm allows older children to dig deeper
- Centres in rural or isolated areas that are not on a town water supply and use bores or water tanks must meet the Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand. The Standards now require routine monitoring of total coliforms; and enumeration testing for E.coli and total coliforms.
These centres must be on the Drinking Water Register for New Zealand they must have a Water Safety Plan.
Further information is available at https://www.education.govt.nz/school/property-and-transport/school-facilities/energy-water-and-waste-management/drinking-water-quality/self-supplying-schools/.
If your drinking water is contaminated or otherwise unusable please contact your Regional Property Coordinator and Regional Support Lead as soon as practical.
A: No, our Playcentres do not have approval for sleep overs. Sleeping activities at a Playcentre would be a liability risk for Playcentre Aotearoa’s Insurance, if anything were to happen, i.e. your insurance would be null and void.