Facilities and safety and security

BIKES

Bikes should be secured to racks provided. Bike owners are strongly recommended to purchase ‘D Bolt’ type locks for securing both wheels and frame to the racks. St Hilda’s College cannot guarantee the security of bikes kept at the College. The College has installed 16 bike lockers. These are available to students on a first come, first serve basis. Interested residents should apply at the front office. There is a $50 key deposit payable for use of a locker. This is refunded when the key is returned.

DINING HALL INFORMATION

St Hilda’s invests heavily in the range and quality of the food it provides its residents. The College kitchen is vigilant in maintaining the highest possible standards of hygiene and food preparation. Comments and suggestions on all aspects of the meals provided are welcomed. Please contact the Catering Manager or President of the Student Club for further information.

Meal times

Meal times will be signposted in the dining hall. It is expected that all students will have collected their meals at least 15 minutes prior to closing of the dining hall.

Late dinners

Late meals are provided only for students who are unable to attend the normal evening meal due to course or sports training commitments. Late meals can be ordered via the Quad. Late meals can be collected from 7:00 pm. Collections earlier than this are not permitted.

Dining Hall property

College crockery and cutlery must not be removed from the dining hall or adjacent outdoor dining area. Students ignoring this rule will, for the first offence, be required to spend a designated amount of time performing community service for the College, with subsequent offences likely to be referred to a meeting of the Dean of Students and more significant action will be taken.

KITCHEN ACCESS

Only kitchen staff are permitted in the kitchen area, in the cool rooms or refrigerators.

ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

St Hilda’s College has a duty of care to provide all members of the College community with a safe residential and working environment. This includes ensuring that all privately owned electrical equipment brought into individual rooms and common areas meets safety requirements. Residents are required to make sure that any electrical equipment in their possession is satisfactorily maintained. The College has fitted all buildings with safety switches. Should these be triggered, power will automatically be disconnected. The Maintenance Engineer should be contacted to restore power. Double adaptors are not permitted. Permission to bring any additional heavy-duty electrical appliances must be made to the Concierge (concierge@ hildas.unimelb.edu.au). Additional room heating or air conditioning appliances are not permitted. Microwaves and large refrigerators for student use are located in the student kitchen. Small refrigerators are supplied in student rooms. It is essential that these appliances are used appropriately and are kept clean.

Microwaves, toasters, and other cooking devices are not permitted in any student room outside of H block, where the fire sensors are different. Any student using these devices and setting off an alarm will pay the fire brigade costs, which are often around $5,000. FIRE EVACUATION PROCEDURE

All members of College are required to be familiar with college evacuation procedures. In the event of an evacuation, residents are required to observe the directions of the Fire Wardens who will supervise any evacuation. The main evacuation muster point is on the grass at the front entry carpark. If this area Is not available, the alternative evacuation point is on the sports oval accessed via the rear exit of College.

Fire safety

The College has been fitted with sensitive heat and smoke detectors as well as fire doors and Break Glass Alarms. Smoke from appliances such as toasters and sandwich makers will cause the detectors to activate the college fire alarms and may result in significant fines being levied by the Melbourne Fire Brigade. Interfering with any aspect of the College’s fire detection and alarm system, emergency lighting, smoke and fire doors or firefighting equipment is a serious offence, may result in a significant fine being levied by the Melbourne Fire Brigade and may also put the lives of others in danger. Fines levied by the Fire Brigade, which are usually between $3,000-$6,000, will be passed on to those responsible for activating the alarms. Tampering with any fire equipment will also result in suspension or expulsion from college. Students should note that the practice of securing bicycles to stairway banisters constitutes a fire and safety hazard and is forbidden. Any bicycle or other bulky item found in corridors, foyers and stairways will be confiscated immediately and the owner will be required to pay a fine to have the item returned. Repeat offences will incur increasing fines.

the Quad

THE QUAD: COLLEGE PORTAL

The Quad is our means to communicate to residents. It provides access to many online college services and other useful links, including: • a public announcement system where students and staff can post messages for viewing by other College members • helpdesk system where students can lodge requests for maintenance and IT support • print quota system where students can view the details of their print quota • photo gallery of images of social and formal college events • various Student Club documents such as the Student

Club Constitution and Minutes of GC meetings • meals ordering system for takeaway lunches and early or late dinners • wellbeing resource where students may access a range of websites for information regarding issues of concern • St Hilda’s College tutorial timetable and the tutorial timetables for other colleges • a repository of College policies and procedures.

SECURITY

The College’s six accommodation blocks are fitted with electronic locks. You are solely responsible for your fob. Under no circumstances should you give your fob to another person. If your fob is lost or stolen, you are required to inform the front office immediately. A replacement electronic key fob will be provided which when put into use will deactivate the lost fob. Students will be required to pay $25 for this replacement fob at the time of issue. Doors for each room are on ‘passage’ mode. This means that you are required to touch your fob against the door to lock it, and then again to unlock it. You are solely responsible for locking your room upon exiting, this is a good habit to get into.

LOCKOUT POLICY

The College expects residents to take responsibility for their own key/fob. If you lock yourself out during office hours (8.30am – 4.30pm), approach the front office to help you. If you lock yourself out of College outside of office hours you should contact the Staff member on duty to let you in. The staff member on duty starts at 6.00pm. In cases of emergencies between 4.30pm - 6.00pm contact the Dean, Associate Dean, or Principal. Understanding that residents make mistakes at times, disciplinary action will only be taken against residents who require repeated non-emergency or health related assistance (3 strikes) from the resident staff outside of hours. The Dean of Students will monitor lockouts throughout the year and implement disciplinary action which may include fines, community service and/or formal warnings. Repeated lockouts beyond 3 strikes will attract escalating disciplinary action.

LAUNDRY

Personal washing may be laundered in B, D and H block laundries. All washing must be dried in the laundries where there are lines and drying cabinets or in your own washroom. Use of laundry facilities is prohibited between 11.00 pm and 7.00 am. Members of the College must not tamper with the computerised settings on the washers and dryers. All students must supply their own washing powder.

NETWORK COMPUTER ACCESS

Each student room is also equipped with a data outlet to access the network or wifi connectivity. On entering College all students are obliged to abide by the terms set out in the College Computing Facilities Acceptable Use Policy and relevant IT policies found on the Quad. All students should be familiar with these terms, as misuse of the computer facilities will result in disciplinary action.

PARKING

A very limited number of parking permits is available each year. They are allocated according to seniority. Only limited permits are available for first year students. Cars parked in the College grounds without a permit, or in a reserved space, may attract a fine of $161 (minimum) imposed by the City of Melbourne parking authorities. Appropriate warning signs are displayed at the entrance to each College parking area. Once a fine has been issued by the City of Melbourne, the College is unable to have it revoked. Please note that claims of lack of knowledge are not valid. There are only two parking positions provided for the use of visitors and these have a strict two-hour limit which is enforced.

PHOTOCOPYING AND PRINTING

Direct photocopying is not available. Free scanning facilities are available in the library and scanned material can then be printed. Print credit can be purchased on the Quad.

RECYCLING AND LANDFILL BINS

Students are provided with one yellow co-mingled recyclables bin and one red landfill waste bin. Red bins will be emptied by the cleaners each week. No rubbish is to be deposited in corridors or kitchenettes. Students are strongly encouraged to make use of the yellow recycle bins, which they must empty into the large yellow bin at the back of E, F and G Block. With the good recycling habits of St Hilda’s students, our recycling system will save a significant amount of high-quality resources each year that would have ended up buried in landfill sites. At St Hilda’s College, we are committed to the environment and its sustainability. The College has made a significant investment in this recycling system. If the yellow or red bins are lost or damaged, they will be replaced at a cost to the student of $50 each. For more information, contact the front office or Maintenance.

ROOM CLEANLINESS

All students are expected to maintain their rooms in a reasonable state of cleanliness and good order. Students refusing to comply with this requirement are asked to leave the College. All student rooms are cleaned once a week by our cleaning staff. Students cannot reasonably refuse College staff entry for this purpose. Rooms are not cleaned before 9.00 am. Rooms are cleaned during the designated day without exception, other than genuine illness. Staff do not disturb student study areas (desks) when papers and academic materials are in use. However, the room needs to be in a reasonable state for cleaning. Cluttered and messy rooms are subject to an additional cleaning charge. No rubbish is to be deposited in corridors. Room Decoration: Do not drive nails or pins into the walls, doors or ceilings. Posters should only be fixed with Blu-tack or equivalent. Any other tape damages paint and plaster. No posters or stickers are to be glued to doors nor should walls or doors be defaced with graffiti. Posters and stickers are not to be attached to ceilings. Students must accept liability for the repair of damage done to rooms. For example: • the cost of resurfacing a door is $225 • the cost of repainting a room is $750

Room allocation

First year residents will be allocated rooms at the sole discretion of the Principal and may not request specific rooms. Returning residents will be allocated rooms under the room allocation policy found on the quad.

Room doors

Student rooms in A, B, C and H Blocks have been fitted with smoke-proof doors. These doors are fitted with an automatic closing device and must be maintained in the closed position. It is a breach of fire safety legislation to chock these doors open at any time or to tamper with the closing mechanism. Spot checks will be carried out to monitor compliance.

Room maintenance

Students are responsible for the condition of their rooms and for any damage, including room exterior doors, furnishings and carpet tiles, during the period of occupancy. Do not remove furniture, furnishings or fittings from your room or add any furniture from College common areas. To assist with maintenance of rooms and to enable appropriate action to be taken in situations where damage has occurred, each student is required to complete and sign a room inventory form within a week of moving into College. This form will be supplied digitally on the day of check-in. Students are expected to vacate their rooms in the same condition (including cleanliness) as when they arrived. The College provides a mattress, mattress protector, pillow and pillow protector. Mattresses must not be placed on the floor. This practice is detrimental to the fabric of the mattress and to your health, and is potentially a fire hazard. To help prevent fires, please do not attach large note-pads to doors.

Room repairs

Residents are asked to inform the maintenance staff of any repairs required in their rooms. This can be done by using the Maintenance Tracker on the Quad. Maintenance requests are checked on a regular basis and, where possible, repairs are completed during the day by the maintenance staff. Room heating boilers for heating are turned off on Melbourne Cup Day and are reinstated on Anzac Day.

Room inspections

The College reserves the right to conduct periodic room inspections. The condition in which students maintain their rooms will be considered when future room allocations are being determined. Room inspections will be conducted by College staff during the year and prior to students’ departure at the end of the year.

Corridors

It is an offence to place any item in a corridor as it could become a hazard in the event of an emergency evacuation. Student belongings left in corridors will be removed. It is also an offence to throw water or play ball games in corridors because of the risk of damage to safety fixtures and fittings and also because of the risk of creating a dangerous and slippery surface in a public place. Each floor is responsible for general cleanliness. Reparation for damage to corridors and bathrooms is a collective responsibility.

STORAGE

At the end of the academic year, all students, except returning overseas students, are required to remove their belongings from College. Articles left in College without authorisation for one week or more are disposed of and the proceeds given to the College library or to charitable organisations. No responsibility is accepted for goods stored in student rooms or storage areas while a student is absent from College. Limited storage may be available for returning students. If made available, a bond of $250 is payable prior to storage of your belongings. $200 of the bond will be refunded on the student’s return to College in February. If the student does not return, the full amount will be forfeited to the College and belongings will be donated to charity.

SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS

The College takes every precaution to keep the grounds safe and free of intruders, however on occasions, strangers are found within the College grounds. Students should always lock their rooms even when absent for short periods of time. Ground floor rooms are especially vulnerable to theft. Incidents of theft should be reported promptly to the College office and, where appropriate, to the Police. College security is a matter of prime importance. For this reason, it is unacceptable for doors to be propped open when they are supposed to be closed or locked. College doors and gates are locked between 9pm and 10pm every night. The College maintains a network of security arrangements including a staff member or student leader on duty outside of normal working hours, a network of video surveillance cameras and patrols by an external security company. Any concerns with College security should be reported to the front office. It is important that the presence of prowlers and even minor theft is reported promptly to the College office during business hours or to the Duty RA when the College office is not open. Incidents of theft should be reported promptly to the Police.

Duty phone

As part of the College’s commitment to the security and wellbeing of members of the College community, RAs and SRAs participate in the duty roster and will be on call after business hours (6pm – 8am) and on weekends. The duty phone can be contacted by calling 0417013608. Please

note that the you must call and not message the duty phone.

Assistance provided by the duty RA is a service to students and should not be abused or taken for granted. Excessive or frivolous use of this service will be subject to disciplinary action.

University grounds and surrounds

Students are strongly advised not to walk alone through the University during the late evening. Residents returning from the library should be accompanied. If concerned, call the College for an escort. You may also call University Security on 8344 6666 to request assistance or to ask for an escort.

Dangerous items

The possession of any dangerous object, weapon, or inflammable chemical agent is extremely dangerous. Fire-arms, ammunition, fireworks, or other explosives (including petrol), hunting knives, swords, sabres and the like are prohibited in College.

Roof and undercroft

Walking on the roof and/or undercroft is not only extremely dangerous, it is an offence. These areas are out of bounds at all times. An individual found on a roof will be fined $500 and required to spend a designated amount of time performing community service for the College. Repeat offences will attract an increased fine and disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from college.

Common areas

All public areas are common areas and should be used with care. The College gardens are provided for the general enjoyment of all. Because of the significant expense involved in the replanting and re-grassing of these areas, ball games and sports are not permitted in the front or back quadrangle. Non-compliance with this rule will result in disciplinary action.

Smoking/Vaping

Given the University of Melbourne has adopted a no smoking policy, no smoking (including use of e-cigarettes/ vaping) will be permitted on the St Hilda’s College site, indoors or out. The smoke free zone includes the University oval which is subject to University of Melbourne no smoking rules and Morrison Close which is owned by Ormond College.