Health and Safety

Campable connects campers with private landowners: farms, vineyards, orchards, lifestyle blocks and clubs. Working land is a big part of what makes these stays special, and it comes with real hazards. This page explains who is responsible for what, and the tools Campable gives hosts and guests to stay safe.

If anyone is hurt or in danger, call 111 first.

Hosts: you're responsible for safety on your property

When you take paying guests, you are running a business, and under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 you must keep your guests safe so far as is reasonably practicable. That duty stays with you: it can't be handed to Campable or to your guests, and a guest's acknowledgment doesn't remove it.

Campable doesn't inspect, check or approve properties, and nothing on Campable means a property has been judged safe. We give you tools to identify your hazards, tell guests about them and keep a record that you did.

Focus on the critical risks

The biggest risks on rural properties are usually the same few. Think about each one where guests camp, walk and drive:

Vehicles: quad bikes, tractors, utes and farm tracks. Keep guests away from where vehicles work and take keys out of parked machinery.
Stock: cattle (especially cows with calves and bulls), deer, horses and working dogs.
Water and effluent ponds: rivers, dams, troughs, the sea and effluent ponds, which can look solid but aren't.
Chemicals: sprays, fuel and fertiliser. Lock them away and keep guests out of sprayed areas until the product's re-entry time has passed.
Electricity: electric fences, power lines, and power supplied to sites.
Fire: fire pits, barbecues, dry grass and the current fire season.

Other common hazards include steep drops, forestry and tree felling, flooding, no mobile coverage, and busy seasons like harvest or lambing when there are more people and vehicles about.

Add "Safety on your property" to your listing

In your listing setup you'll find the Safety on your property step. It's optional, but we strongly encourage every host to complete it. You can:

tick the hazards on your property, and edit the plain-English instruction guests see for each one
list no-go areas and your site rules
say whether fires are allowed (no fires, fire pit only when the fire season allows, or fires when the season allows)
say whether your water is safe to drink
add a spray programme note, which is especially important for vineyards and orchards
add emergency details: your rural address or RAPID number, a meeting point, the nearest hospital and the nearest defibrillator. These are shown only to guests with a confirmed booking.
work through a 10-point "reasonably practicable" self-check. It covers walking the site, marking hazards, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, access for emergency services, securing vehicles and chemicals, and being contactable. Re-confirm it every 12 months.

Campable turns this into a safety briefing for your guests. You can print it as an A4 sign for your camping area. Each time you change it, the briefing gets a new version, and guests who have already booked are asked to read the update.

Fire

Check the fire season for your area before you allow any fire, and remind guests to check it too: checkitsalright.nz. Fire and Emergency New Zealand sets seasons as Open, Restricted (a permit is needed) or Prohibited (no open fires).

Drinking water

If you tell guests your water is safe to drink, you are supplying drinking water. Businesses that supply drinking water need to register with Taumata Arowai, the water services regulator, by November 2028. If your water isn't treated, tell guests to bring their own or to boil or treat it.

If something goes wrong

If a guest reports a safety incident through Campable, we email you and send you a message. You may need to notify WorkSafe of a death, serious injury or illness, or a dangerous incident, and keep the scene undisturbed. Campable doesn't notify WorkSafe for you. Find out what to notify and how: worksafe.govt.nz/notify-worksafe.

Guests: your part in staying safe

Rural properties are working land, with natural hazards like animals, machinery, water and uneven ground. You're responsible for your own safety and your group's, including children and pets.

Read the host's safety information on the listing before you book. It's written by the host.
Tick the safety box when you book. It confirms that you've read the host's safety information, that you'll follow their safety instructions and site rules, and that you understand rural hazards. We keep a record of this with your booking.
Check your booking before you arrive. Your booking page shows the host's full safety briefing, including emergency details. If the host updates their safety information after you've booked, you'll be asked to read it again.
Follow the host's instructions, keep out of no-go areas, and leave gates as you find them.
Supervise children at all times near water, animals, vehicles and machinery. Keep dogs on a lead unless the host says otherwise.
Check the fire season before lighting any fire, even where the host allows fires: checkitsalright.nz.
Treat water as not for drinking unless the host says it's safe.
Plan for no coverage. Many rural properties have little or no mobile signal. Know your address or RAPID number and where the nearest signal is, and tell someone your plans.

Reporting a safety incident

If anyone is hurt or in danger, call 111 first. Then use Report a safety incident on your booking, on the website or in the app, to tell the host and Campable what happened. It helps hosts fix hazards for the next guests.

What Campable does, and doesn't do

Campable provides the tools on this page: the Safety step, the guest briefing, the booking acknowledgment and incident reports. We don't inspect, verify or approve properties, and we don't control how any property is run. Each host is responsible for health and safety on their property, and each guest for their own group.

Nothing on this page limits any rights you have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or the Fair Trading Act 1986.

Questions? Contact us at support@campable.com.