FAQs related to Transitional Facilities and Containment Facilities
Charges apply for the initial and ongoing audit of facilities. The charge is made up of administrative, on-site inspection and travel expenses. All MAFBNZ charges, except travel, will be recovered on an hourly basis.
There is also an annual fee of $160 for all transitional facilities or containment facilites.
Depending on the facility and if risk goods are present:
If a facility is able to control access (eg customer and couriers are coming to one area to pick-up and drop-off items) then a visitors book might not be necessary.
In general, there should be no public access where uncleared risk goods are held.
A sealed hard stand area should be big enough to have a 3m clearance at the front for unloading and 1m clearance around the sides and back of the container so a check by an Accredited Person can easily take place. 3m around the entire container should be kept clear from vegetation, rubbish or debris.
If you have an equivalent system in place to effectively mitigate biosecurity risk, contact your local Biosecurity Inspector who can assess whether or not it is appropriate.
To gain or maintain approval in a rural area you may need to develop specialised systems that can more effectively deal with biosecurity risks. For example, if you do not have access to council sewers then you may need to find another approved means of dealing with waste water if it is used to clean sea containers or other risk material. Contact an Inspector for more details.
Facilities are encouraged to have internet access on site as this will allow for ease of communication with MAF. It will also allow facilities importing sea containers to report contaminated sea container log sheets using the online system at the MAF Approved Transitional Facility and Accredited Person Site 
.
The types of facilities covered under the new standard are facilities previously approved under the following standards
- 152.04.03f - Requirements for holding and processing facilities
- BNZ STD TFSCO - requirements for transitional facilities for sea containers
- PBC-NZ-STD-FACIL-FLIGHT – requirements for flight kitchens (transitional facilities)
- PBC-NZ-STD-FACIL-REFUSE – requirements for incineration/ sterilisation facilities for quarantine refuse or uncleared risk goods
- 154.02.18- transitional facilities for animal products
- 154.02.17 – transitional facilities for biological products ONLY where the facility is receiving and holding the product, not processing the product.
Operating manual templates will be made available on the MAFBNZ website. They provide a basis only for the development of your operating manual, because it must be specific to your facility. The Operator training course also provides information and help with development of an operating manual.
The examples in the guidance document have been provided as a set of acceptable solutions to meeting the Standard. If you do not want to follow the solutions as provided, you may develop your own procedures tailored to your facility. However these must be deemed acceptable by an Inspector before they are put into use at a facility.
The TF Gen guidance document provides ways to meet the requirements of the Standard. If the examples shown in the guidance document are not appropriate for a particular facility, then they may devise their own equivalent systems to suit their specific needs. However, any equivalence systems must meet the same biosecurity outcome as examples given, and must also be approved by MAFBNZ prior to use. If you have developed a customised system, contact your local Biosecurity Inspector who can assess whether or not it is appropriate.
If you are receiving sea containers then you will need access to sufficient numbers of Accredited Persons (APs) to check sea containers at a transitional facility. More information on AP training and who to contact to organise this training can be found on the list of providers for Biosecurity Awareness Training for Accredited Persons.
Under the TF Gen, if you are an Operator of more than one facility, the facility where you don't have direct day to day management should have a deputy Operator. Deputy operators are also required to take the Operator training course.
Where an Operator is intending to be away for any length of time, and a facility is receiving risk goods during this time of absence, the facility may require a Deputy Operator. If volumes of risk goods being received are low and an Operator is still contactable (eg by phone) then a deputy may not be necessary. Check with an Inspector if you are unsure.
Operator training needs to be refreshed every four years.
All existing and new Operators and Deputy Operators approved or audited against the TF Gen standard must take the Operator training course.
There are three Operator training providers, for details of Operator training go to the New Training Requirements for Operators of Transitional Facilities page.
MAFBNZ currently has two different sets of training requirements for
- Accredited Persons for sea container checks
- Operators of transitional facilities
As they have different purposes, the training is not interchangeable and one course does not replace the other.
An Accredited Person checks sea containers on arrival at a transitional facility and must take the AP training course.
A facility Operator is the person whose name appears on the MAFBNZ Transitional Facility Operator approval certificate and is legally responsible for the management of the transitional facility. They must take the Operator training course.
To avoid confusion, when making a booking please ensure you are attending the correct training for your role. Also be sure to ask for a training location nearest to you.
If you are already an Operator approved under previous relevant Standards you do not have to submit the police check form. These are required for brand new Operator and Deputy Operator approvals once the standard is enforced.
Send the Consent to Disclosure of Information (police check) form with your application documents to the relevant MAF office. For office contact details around the country go to the Operations and Facilities Group Contact Details page.
A clearly visible sign (or signs) will be required to let people know they are entering an approved Transitional Facility area, and only permitted persons are allowed access. They can be placed where they are most appropriate to your facility (eg entry ways). This will be checked by your MAFBNZ Inspector. An example sign is shown below.
The new Standard is expected to be implemented in February 2009.
Starting February 2009, Inspectors will audit facilities against the new standard. Inspectors will issue corrective action request(s) (CARs) for facilities that do not meet the new requirements. CARs are expected to be followed-up within the timeframe agreed upon with the Inspector.
Your local MAFBNZ Inspector will be available to help you through this process and answer any questions you may have.