COVIDSafety at HRAFF 2021

GENERAL GUIDELINES

We’re looking forward to welcoming audiences back for our 2021 Human Rights Arts & Film Festival (HRAFF). 

The safety and wellbeing of all artists, speakers, audiences, volunteers and staff is our number one priority so we ask that all attendees of the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival please follow the COVIDSafe practices described below:

  • Maintain physical distancing of 1.5m from other attendees in queues, foyers and cinemas at all times

  • Please minimise movement by staying within your allocated spaces or seats where practical

  • Wearing a mask is recommended while inside venues, including while the film is on

  • Cough and sneeze into a tissue or your elbow

  • Make frequent use of the hand sanitiser and hand washing facilities at the venue

  • Listen to and comply with instructions given by venue staff and volunteers

  • Stay up to date with the latest information from the Victorian Government at coronavirus.vic.gov.au

  • Check in with the QR code at the venue entrance

  • Please do a symptom self-assessment prior to leaving home, do not attend if you are unwell and then get tested

  • If you begin to feel unwell while at a screening, please contact a member of the HRAFF team immediately

What HRAFF is doing to be COVID Safe:

The health of our audience, communities, volunteers and staff is of the highest importance. Some of the protective measures to expect when you attend a HRAFF screening include:

  • Our festival is cashless, as are many of our venues

  • Physical distancing in queues and common areas to avoid close contact and congestion

  • More time between shows so audiences coming out do not mix with audiences waiting to go in

  • Greatly reduced crowding in foyers and hallways; attendees will be directed to enter and exit the venues in a timely manner

  • Regular cleaning and sanitising of venue and public areas

  • Availability of hand sanitiser at all Cinema exits

  • All staff and volunteers wearing masks indoors at all times will be recommended (unless eating or drinking)

  • Collection of patron information at entry of all venues to facilitate rapid contact tracing. Information will be collected according to state government requirements including the storage of patron names and email addresses.

COVIDSAFE CHECKLIST

Here you can find a link to HRAFF's COVIDSafe Event Checklist. 

Please read and make sure you are aware of the COVID-specific conditions of entry required. HRAFF is following the Victorian Chief Health Officer’s guidance and information relevant to keeping the Festival COVIDSafe and it will be regularly updated here.

BUSINESS & EVENT DETAILS

Registered company / business name: Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF)

Trading company / business name: Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF)

Business address: PO Box 4490, Melbourne, VIC 3001

ABN: 41 028 224 880

Event organiser name and title: Imogen Thomas - CEO; Leia Alex - Festival Coordinator

Event organiser email: info@hraff.org.au


Event name: Human Rights Arts and Film Festival

Event locations:

  • ACMI-  Federation Square, Flinders St, Melbourne

  • Village Cinema-  285/287 Springvale Rd, Glen Waverley

  • Sun Theatre-  8 Ballarat St, Yarraville

  • Footscray Community Arts Centre-  45 Moreland St, Footscray

  • Loop Bar - 23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000

Date (s) of event: 22 April – 1 May 2021

Key decision dates (and reason)

  • 18 March - Tickets on sale.

  • 6 April - Decision to do any online screenings. This is the contract deadline with the digital venue, ACMI’s Cinema 3.

  • 21 April - 1 May - The day before each event is when the organisation will decide if the following day’s in-person events will go ahead, according to any new restrictions or COVID updates from the Victorian government. 

Duration of the event(s):

  • 22 April 2021: 5pm-9:15pm

  • 23 April 2021: 4:45pm-11pm 

  • 24 April 2021: 12:45pm- 9:30pm

  • 25 April 2021: 11:45am-6:45pm 

  • 26 April 2021: 5:15pm-8:30pm

  • 27 April 2021: 5pm-9pm 

  • 28 April 2021: 5pm-9:30pm

  • 29 April 2021:  4:45pm-10:15pm

  • 30 April 2021: 5pm-9:30pm 

  • 1 May 2021: 1pm-9:15pm 

Event description: The Human Rights Arts & Film Festival is 10 days of film screenings, performances and forums that explore the most pressing social and cultural issues of our time.

Serving of alcohol: Venues hold their own liquor licences. 

Event website: https://www.hraff.org.au/ 

 VENUE DETAILS

All venues have their own CovidSafe Plans available below: 

ARRIVING AT A VENUE

  • If a staff member or volunteer is not fit for work, they must not attend work and contact the HRAFF CEO or Festival Coordinator immediately.

  • It is recommended that all staff and volunteers wear an appropriate mask during their shift. Cloth masks with three layers are suggested or disposable surgical masks. Masks should be replaced if it is no longer fitting snugly, if it is wet or if it has been contaminated by touching it.

  • Volunteers are provided with access to hand sanitiser at all venue locations. 

  • Once entering the venue remember to keep sanitising or washing your hands regularly.

  • All personal items of HRAFF staff and volunteers should be kept within their own bag and stored in one secure location. 

  • Venue staff to set up the screening and panel space as per their COVIDSafe Plans. Ensure the queue system for patrons is managed by ushers with 1.5m distancing.

  • HRAFF will work with venue staff to ensure all venue hand sanitisers are full and working.

  • Check booking information to identify patrons with access requirements. Staff to ensure accessible patrons are directed to accessible seated area.

  • All patron contact information collected via ticketing system. 

  • Ensure that the venue's QR system is operational and all relevant contact tracing information is available upon request.

  • Note late or no show patrons through the ticketing check-in process. Records of their names should be kept as this information may be required for contact tracing.

  • Ensure venues are fulfilling the cleaning duties as per the schedule. Disinfectant to be provided to festival volunteers. 

NOTIFYING PUBLIC HEALTH AUTHORITIES IF AN OUTBREAK OCCURS

  • Local testing sites - https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/where-get-tested-covid-19 

  • As soon as informed of the confirmed COVID case, staff must contact all guests in proximity to the infected patron / staff members. We need to use contact tracing information from patrons which will be provided via the ticketing system. Staff contact tracing information will be held by senior festival staff. 

  • If there is a confirmed COVID case at the venue, they will be isolated immediately and sent home in suitable and safe private transport. If they cannot be transported safety, they will remain in an isolated area at the venue until arrangements can be made.

  • Staff or volunteers may be required to isolate for 2 weeks at home who were working on shift. All staff to get tested at their local testing site. 

  • If panellist or guests of the festival were exposed to the infections person, which is most likely, the festival will need to risk assess the program and the continuation of the festival. The contingency plan for the festival would be enacted and the program would move to online presentation only. All tickets would be refunded and patrons that choose to do so may re-purchase tickets for online screening sessions. 

  • Venues would be responsible to professionally clean all areas of the venue as per government guidance.

  • The confirmed case should be reported to the nearest health authority.

  • Emergency contact lists with up to date staff, local health authority and hours for cleaning company and venue maintenance.

  • Whilst liaising with infected individual, ensure to ask the following questions: 

    • Have they notified the local Public Health Authority? If not, provide them with the contact information: telephone number 1800 020 080

    • Confirm what date they were in the venue, and which session they attended including the start and finish time.

    • Did they use any other facilities in the venue – shop, restaurant, foyer, toilets, merchandise area?

    • Did they attend other locations before or after their attendance at the venue?

    • Where did they enter the venue? Did they exit the same way?

  • Confirm with the health authority and government who will inform the public and how contact tracing will be conducted.

  • Outbreaks of COVID 19 will be reported by the media, and subject the organisation to scrutiny. It is important to follow the emergency communication strategy, to manage the relationship with all stakeholders and any interested parties reporting on the matter. Key messaging to ticket holders will be managed by HRAFF.   

 CLEANING

  • Cleaning and sanitising common contact surfaces will help to slow the spread of COVID 19. This should be done every hour for high touch surfaces. Surface and fittings should also be cleaned immediately when visibly soiled and after any spillage. Common contact surfaces include: 

    • Benches and desks

    • Square readers and iPads

    • Doors and cupboard handles

    • Handrails

    • Pens & sign in book

    • Switches

    • Taps

    • Tables and chairs including underneath

  • Personal items used in the workplace such as phones and laptops should be cleaned and,ideally disinfected frequently using alcohol wipes. Venues are responsible for cleaning all workplace amenities including kitchens, bathrooms, communal areas, drinking fountains, hand rails etc.

  • All staff should avoid touching their face, especially their eyes, nose and mouth when cleaning. All PPE must be disposed of in a closed waste bin.

Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces:

To ensure surfaces are clean and disinfected, both steps are essential.

  1. The first step is cleaning, which means wiping dirt and germs off a surface. Common household detergent can be used for this cleaning.

  2. Cleaning alone doesn’t kill germs on surfaces. Disinfection means using cleaning to kill germs on surfaces.

For fabric chairs, when cleaning is required, clean the touch surfaces of the item that can be wiped with a damp cloth. Not all surfaces are amenable to frequent cleaning. If soft or porous surfaces require regular cleaning, contact venue staff to facilitate cleaning. 

HAND WASHING AND SANITISING FOR STAFF

  • Hand washing should take at least 20 to 30 seconds. Wash the whole of each hand, covering all areas with soap before washing with water. If hand washing is not practical, alcohol based hand sanitiser containing at least 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol is recommended.

  • The most important measure is proper handwashing. Staff must have access to appropriate handwashing facilities and must wash and dry their hands:

    • On arrival at work

    • Before handling food

    • After smoking, coughing, sneezing, blowing their nose, eating and drinking, and using the toilet.

    • After touching hair, scalp, mouth, nose or ear canal.

    • After handling rubbish and other waste

    • After handling money or bank cards

    • Before and after cleaning

    • Before leaving work; and before and after removing gloves and soiled masks (if used)

PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND CAPACITY LIMITS 

  • Maintaining physical distancing of people is a demonstrated strategy to ensure the safety of all including team members and visitors.

  • When using electronic record keeping (e.g QR codes) the one person per two square metre rule applies in foyers, near the bar and bathrooms. This is used to calculate the total number of people managers can have in any of our venues at any one time. The size of the space may limit the number of people we can allow to enter at once. For example, if a space has an internal usable floor space of 20 square metres, then no more than ten people can be in that space at any one time.

  • It is important that people stay 1.5metres apart wherever possible and safe, so team members and others must not be grouped or clustered together. The DHHS website provides information about monitoring compliance of the directions at https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/four-and-two-square-metre-rules 

All venues for Tier 3 events can now operate at full capacity in line with government legislation. More information on capacity limits can be found in the venues’ CovidSafe Plans.

For other questions or information, please contact HRAFF at info@hraff.org.au