Biosecurity Awareness is free online biosecurity awareness training for New Zealand workplaces that handle imported goods. New Zealand's economy and environment depend on people at the border spotting what does not belong, and most of those people work in freight, warehousing and Transitional Facilities, not laboratories. This short course gives your team the knowledge to recognise a risk and the confidence to act on it, in under an hour, on any device.
Video overview
Free awareness training for freight and warehouse teams
Watch the course overview to see how staff learn to spot pests and contamination signs, respond correctly, and keep their own record of who has completed it.
Who is this course for?
It is for Transitional Facility staff, contractors, drivers, and anyone in freight, logistics, ports or warehousing who handles imported cargo, packaging or containers. It suits new starters at induction, and whole sites refreshing what their people already know. No prior knowledge is needed.
Shared responsibility
Biosecurity is everyone's job on site
Keeping unwanted organisms out of New Zealand is a shared duty of care between the site operator, every worker, and the Ministry for Primary Industries. The course makes that duty clear and practical, so each person on your site knows what they are looking for and who to tell.
Know what to look for
Spot the signs of a biosecurity risk
Unwanted organisms hitch a ride on cargo, pallets, packaging and inside containers. Tap each card to see the signs your team learns to notice.
Tap or select a card to flip it.
What the course covers
Two short, focused modules take your team from why biosecurity matters to exactly what to do on the floor:
- Core Biosecurity KnowledgeWhy it matters, key unwanted organisms, and the signs to spot
- Transitional Facility GuidanceWhat good practice looks like on a TF site and the steps when something is found
Why it matters
New Zealand's border is not just the airport and the wharf. It is every container opened and every pallet unwrapped on your site.
A single missed pest can cost the country billions and change our environment for good. The people most likely to catch it are the ones handling the freight.
Act with confidence
What to do if you find something
The course gives your team a simple, repeatable response so no one freezes or guesses:
- Stop: do not touch, move or disturb it.
- Contain: secure the area or item if you safely can.
- Record: note what you saw and where, a photo helps.
- Report: tell your site operator straight away, who notifies MPI.
How does this fit with your Operating Manual?
Check it against your own manual: most Transitional Facility Operating Manuals set out some form of biosecurity training expectation, and this course is designed to help with it. We cannot tell you whether it satisfies yours, because your manual is specific to your site, so read the two alongside each other. Every completion is recorded and each learner gets a certificate, so you have your own record of who has done the training and when. It is awareness training. It does not replace your site's own TF Operating Manual procedures.
Need MPI Accredited Persons training?
An Accredited Person inspects containers and supervises devanning at a Transitional Facility. QCONZ delivers the MPI-approved AP training online: the Sea Container Course if you are becoming an AP, or the Refresher Course if you already are one.
MPI requires all APs to have:
- A basic understanding of both written and spoken English
- A basic level of computer competency
- Phone and internet access to report container inspections
- Be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident or legally entitled to work in NZ with a current valid working visa
- Completed an MPI-approved Accredited Person Training course and hold a valid AP Certificate of Training
Enrol in Biosecurity Awareness Training
Free for every learner
Enrol one worker or your whole site at no cost. Access is immediate, the two modules are self-paced, and every completion is recorded for your own records.
Start the free courseUnder an hour · works on any phone, tablet or laptop
What the MPI standard says about biosecurity awareness training
If your site is a transitional facility, the rules come from the MPI Facility Standard: Transitional Facilities for General Uncleared Risk Goods 2025, in force since 2 October 2025. Clause 3.2.1.2(6) requires the TF manual to include details of internal supplementary staff training for biosecurity awareness, and clause 3.12 requires training appropriate to TF operations, with the manual describing the programme and referring to refresher courses.
Training records for all relevant staff members must be held for verification.
TFGEN 2025, clause 3.12(1).
The standard sets no annual training interval. Its yearly duties are internal audits, which must occur at least once a year, and the review of the TF manual, which must happen at least annually. Many facilities put a yearly biosecurity refresher in their own manual, and once it is written there, that is the commitment an inspector checks against. MPI's guidance adds that records should be kept as proof that staff have completed and understood the training.
Accredited persons sit on a separate track. MPI requires an approved training course to become one, and its guidance says approval is valid until re-training is required again or another reassessment of competence has been conducted, with no fixed period stated.
On reporting, clause 3.3.1 requires significant contamination or live pests to be reported to MPI immediately, and clause 3.8 requires notification as soon as possible of any live organism not normally seen at the facility. For anyone, MPI asks that a find be photographed and caught if it is safe to do so, then reported to the exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66.
Common questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Biosecurity Awareness is free to enrol, for one worker or a whole site, and every completion is recorded, so you have your own record of who has done it.
How long does it take?
Most people finish in well under an hour. It is two short online modules, self-paced, and works on any phone, tablet or laptop.
What do I do if I find an unwanted pest?
Do not disturb it, contain the area if you safely can, record what you saw, and report it straight away to your site operator, who notifies the Ministry for Primary Industries. The course walks through these steps.
Does it cover working in a Transitional Facility?
Yes. The second module is Transitional Facility Guidance. It covers what good practice looks like on a TF site and the right response when something is found. It is written as guidance rather than a list of rules, so read it alongside your own Operating Manual, which is the document that sets out what your site actually expects.
Training more than a handful of people?
Capability Hub, your team's training in your brand
Rather than buying seats one at a time, put your whole business on Capability Hub. We build our courses in your logo and colours, hand you a dashboard to enrol staff and track progress, and keep your refresher records audit-ready. We set it up and host it, so there is nothing for your IT to run.
- More than 20 courses, branded to your business
- Unlimited staff enrolments, so a new hire costs nothing extra
- Custom courses for your own equipment or SOPs, built at no extra cost
- One dashboard for enrolments and progress at a glance
- Automatic refresher reminders before training lapses
- Audit-ready reporting and automatic completion certificates
From $160 + GST per month
Launch offer: 12 months, 3 months free
Book a 15-minute demo on the hub page, or email Gordon. Larger teams and multi-site businesses get a tailored quote.