Health and Safety

Please be mindful that COVID-19 & Influenza and other illnesses continue to circulate in the community.  While masks are no longer mandatory, we ask you postpone your visit if you are feeling unwell.

  • Wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitiser.
  • Please stay away if you are feeling unwell.
  • Don’t enter the Lodge, unless you have been invited to do so by the Keeper, or are part of a group that has booked the Lodge for an overnight stay.

Quarantine Island – Health and Safety

The Community has identified the following hazards and suggested management strategies for the safety of all visitors to Quarantine Island.

Hazards and management strategies for the safety of all visitors to Quarantine Island.

  1. Take care when you are walking around. Tracks on the island are uneven, narrow and can be slippery.  Wear appropriate closed footwear with grip on the soles.
  2. There are a number of steep or unstable cliffs and slopes around the coast of the Island. Please do not go near these for your own safety (and also to avoid disturbing the shags, which nest there).
  3. The wrecks of the ships, Waikana (steel) and the Oreti (wood), are unsafe and fragile so are out of bounds to all visitors. Please do not kayak or swim around/over them.
  4. Rocky shores often have sharp rocks or barnacles that can cut feet or hands. They are also slippery. Please wear appropriate footwear in these areas at all times, especially since shallow water can often be opaque.
  5. The Island has hazards like those of a farm. There are some electric fences for the sheep but they are usually off. Please leave gates as you find them.
  6. Keep out of private and out of bounds areas – the Keeper’s cottage, sheds, behind (east side) of the Lodge (building/other waste; cliffs).
  7. Building work and repairs are ongoing. Be careful and keep off scaffolding.
  8. For any boating/kayaking activities using the Community’s equipment, you must ask the Keeper first.
  9. Please ensure that a responsible person supervises children in the play area at all times.
  10. Tidal currents affect swimming off the jetty adult supervision is required. The Dougall bay and Big Bay beaches are safe for swimming but adult supervision is recommended.
  11. Sharp broken glass and pottery occasionally surface through soil and sand in some areas; please pick up any such hazardous objects and dispose of safely.
  12. There may be bait stations around buildings or near tracks (blue baits in green or yellow pipes). Do not handle or eat. There may also be traps in wooden boxes.
  13. The Island is a Conservation Area – do not light any fires outdoors and no dogs are allowed. Candles are not allowed inside any buildings, except for the Chapel, for safety reasons.
  14. Smoking including vaping is only allowed on the far end of the jetty. Used matches and cigarette ends must be placed in the designated metal ash bin. Keep matches and lighters in a safe and secure place. No vaping in buildings.
  15. The Chapel may be used with respect. Please use candles in the Chapel in moderation and extinguish them when leaving.
  16. The Community does not encourage excessive drinking of alcohol.

In the event of fire or earthquake emergencies, the initial assembly point is on the grassy slope between the Cottage and the line of macrocarpas.

The buildings have interlinked smoke alarms. All will sound if any detect smoke.

There is a first aid kit in the Cottage and a smaller first aid kit near Lodge Kitchen/toilet.

For Emergency Services- including coastguard/ambulance, ring 111.  Keeper/Resident Manager contact 021 082 58619. Portobello police 03 478 0209.

Accidents and First aid use must be entered in the register (in the Keepers cottage).
 

Volunteers will be trained for the requirements of the tasks they undertake.

 

Thank you for your co-operation, and enjoy your visit!

Updated 27 October 2023