19 Mar 2014

Health and safety alert for play areas

6:28 pm on 19 March 2014

Wellington's medical officer of health says an outbreak of Norovirus at a children's play area last year should encourage other facilities to think about health and safety procedures.

Seventy-one people fell ill after a child left faecal matter on a slide at the Chipmunks Playland and Cafe in Tawa in August last year.

Dr Annette Nesdale said on Wednesday that recommendations were made to the centre about best practice guidelines, including signage saying if anyone has been sick they should stay away for 48 hours.

She says anywhere the public goes, including swimming pools and playgrounds, there is chance someone could have viral gastroenteritis.

Dr Nesdale says incidents like what happened at Chipmunks are a good chance for facilities to look at their own guidelines and procedures. They should ask if a member of the public was ill, how would it be cleaned up, is the appropriate equipment on hand and are staff trained.

Dr Nesdale says gastroenteritis viruses can spread very quickly.

Chipmunks marketing manager Elaine Russell says sanitisation units have been installed and new training procedures for staff put in place at the Tawa site.

Ms Russell says signs have also been put at the entrance, reminding parents not to enter if they've been in contact with a sick person or have themselves been sick within the past 72 hours.

The changes are being rolled out in all franchises across New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, she says.