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Facility operator – individual

The facility operator is the person who will have overall responsibility for the transitional or containment facility and have the authority to make changes at a facility when directed by MPI.

To be an approved facility operator of a transitional or containment facility, you must have completed and passed an MPI approved operator training course.

Facility operator – company

Where a company is the facility operator, the company will need to identify a high-level point of contact who will be the person responsible for ensuring the company meets it responsibilities as a facility operator.

This person referred to as the ‘nominated delegate’.

The nominated delegate will be the point of contact for MPI on approval, compliance, and verification issues. The company may also choose to identify a day-to-day contact person for routine matters arising at the transitional facility.

To be a nominated delegate of a transitional or containment facility, you must have completed and passed an MPI approved operator training course.

Find out more about the company as a facility operator [PDF, 193 KB]

Getting a facility operator (individual) approved

To become the approved facility operator of a transitional or containment facility you will need to:

  1. successfully complete an MPI approved operator training course
  2. register with us as a facility operator
  3. submit a facility application form

Getting a facility operator (company) approved

For your company to become the approved facility operator of a transitional or containment facility you will need to:

  1. select a nominated delegate
  2. ensure your nominated delegate has successfully complete an MPI approved operator training course
  3. have your nominated delegate register with us
  4. obtain a Letter of Authorisation for the nominated delegated that has been signed by an authorised company representative.
    Example of a Letter of Authorisation [DOCX, 14 KB]
  5. submit a facility application form

Register with MPI

An individual who has successfully completed an MPI approved operator training course can register with MPI.

Note: Registration does not grant you approval as a Facility Operator of a transitional or containment facility.

Required documents

If you are registering for the first time or renewing your registration, you'll need to upload copies of these documents with your application:

  • your current identity document such as passport, driver's license, or firearms licence
  • a recent (no less than 3 months from date of application) Ministry of Justice conviction record check 
  • your current facility operator training certificate.

The documents you upload must have a combined file size less than 20 MB and any images must be clear.

The above documents should be saved as either a .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, or .PDF file format.

To ensure compatibility, use Adobe Acrobat when saving documents as a PDF.

Costs

You will be charged for the costs and time involved in processing your application whether or not it's approved. It's in your best interest to ensure your application is complete before you send it to us.

Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2010 – New Zealand Legislation

If you are ready, apply to get your facility approved through our online application system.

Online facility operator application form

Other things to consider

Review the list of facility standards

Check the scope in the facility standards to decide which one applies to you.

Requirement documents for transitional and containment facilities

Preparing for your approval verification

Please note below are some examples of requirements within TFGEN.

For more detail, refer to the Transitional Facilities for General Uncleared Risk Goods Facility standard [PDF, 450 KB].

Facility operating manual

MPI provides guidance in some of the facility standards to help you prepare your operating manual.

Check the relevant facility standard

Separate guidance is available to help you prepare your operating manual for TFGEN and PEQ facilities.

TFGEN operating manual guide and template [DOCX, 120 KB] 

PEQ example operating manual guide [PDF, 1.9 MB] 

Approved TFGEN transitional facility site plan template [PDF, 161 KB]

Check training requirements

To be a facility operator you must have completed and passed an approved operator training course and be approved by MPI.

All staff working at a transitional facility need to understand what biosecurity is and how it is managed. MPI has created a biosecurity awareness training module to help your staff with this.

As the facility operator you will need to sign off that they have completed it. There is a certificate available at the end of the module for them to print. You can file this as proof that they have completed Biosecurity Awareness.

Biosecurity awareness training module 

For information on locations and dates of training courses, contact one of the approved training providers.

Training providers for facilities

For further assistance

Contact your local MPI office for advice.

MPI local office contacts

You may need some extra help from an independent biosecurity consultant to make sure you are meeting all requirements.

Try an internet search if you wish to find a ‘Biosecurity Consultant’ for your type of facility.

What happens next?

If your application is incomplete or incorrect, the biosecurity support team will be in touch to request any missing information. Your application will be on hold while we wait for that information.

Only completed applications can be processed. The approval process may take up to 6 weeks.

Who to contact at MPI

If you have any questions that you need to talk through with our biosecurity team:

MPI business units