Health & Safety

This is not a puzzle.

Ensuring the health and safety of all Mystery Hunt participants is a top priority. Team Captains are primarily responsible for handling emergencies and for ensuring the overall health and safety of team members (or designating a responsible team member for that role).

This document contains important information and helpful tips. Read it, learn it, share it, live it.

Use Common Sense

• This is a puzzle-solving competition, not a mountain-climbing expedition. There is no reason for anyone to put themselves at risk of being harmed, arrested, or held liable for any property damage. Our actions will also reflect on the Mystery Hunt as a whole, so let’s stay safe and responsible both for our own sakes and for the sake of everyone who loves the Mystery Hunt and cares about its future.
• Follow our instructions. During hunt, we will communicate any important health and safety information on the hunt website, by e-mail, by phone, and in person if needed.
• One volunteer on each team should be designated as the “Health & Safety Marshal.” That person should be familiar with the information in these guidelines and ready to respond if a problem arises while your team is hunting.
• If you think you are about to do something illegal, unsafe, against MIT policy or otherwise ill-advised, CALL HUNT HQ FIRST.

Important Contact Information

• MIT Police: 617-253-1212 (or 100 from a campus phone). The MIT Police should be contacted in all emergencies, whether they are of a criminal, medical, or safety nature, or to report an encounter with a suspicious or dangerous person who is not participating in the hunt. The MIT Police will dispatch the appropriate resources, which in some cases might include the student-run MIT-EMS, who will have an ambulance on call.
• Hunt HQ Phone: 617-324-7732. Call during hunt if you encounter a “real-life situation” and you do not know what to do (minor medical issue, lost team member, encounter with police, damage to MIT property, etc.).
• Hunt Organizers E-mail: guestservices@pennypark.fun. All incidents should be reported by e-mail after the immediate emergency or threat has been managed.

Alerts

• MIT Alert System: Provides real-time alerts for emergencies on campus. We will add at least one contact per team just for Hunt weekend (via the Health & Safety Quiz); to subscribe permanently, visit http://em2.mit.edu/mitalert/.
• Fire Alarms: If an alarm sounds, do not continue working. All team members must immediately exit the building through the nearest marked exit, and wait for further instructions.

Medical Care

• Urgent Care:
  • MIT affiliates can use MIT Medical’s Urgent Care in building E23 for non-emergency treatment, 8am–8pm. Overnight, call MIT Medical at 617-253-4481 to speak with a nurse, who can schedule a next-day appointment.
  • All Hunt participants may use MIT’s Urgent Care service while they are taking part in Mystery Hunt. However, your personal insurance will be billed and your insurance might not cover the visit if MIT Urgent Care is out of your network.
  • Non-affiliates can also use area hospitals for urgent medical needs. Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge Hospital, and Mount Auburn Hospital are the closest.
• First Aid: Hunt HQ will provide a kit to each team for treating minor issues. Additional first aid supplies are available at HQ.

Know Where You Are

• MIT is a real university, and Mystery Hunt is not the only thing happening. Try not to disturb researchers, staff, and other activities that might be occurring on campus.
• Don’t go anywhere or do anything illegal or unsafe. Mystery Hunt takes place in specified rooms and campus locations accessible to the MIT community at large. Don’t attempt to enter other spaces, except locations where events are scheduled or that Hunt personnel explicitly provide access to. Don’t force open locked doors or set off emergency alarms.
• Don’t carry any weapon, or anything that looks like a weapon, on campus.
• Be careful with MIT property, especially if your team is using an MIT room as its base. Damage to property will reflect poorly on the Mystery Hunt in general and will compromise your team’s ability to use MIT rooms in the future.
• Team members may not know MIT’s campus well. Before sending team members on an excursion, you should ensure you can stay in touch with them (and vice versa). If needed, provide team members with maps. Whereis and the MIT mobile website both have campus maps.
• If you think a team member is lost, call them directly. If that fails, call Hunt HQ, and if we cannot help, contact MIT Police.

Stay Healthy

• Ask if any of your team members have allergies or other health conditions that might require attention, and take appropriate precautions.
• Make sure every team member has a plan for getting sleep. “Work until burnout” is not a winning strategy. Getting sleep is important—Mystery Hunt is a marathon, not a sprint.
  • MIT rules do not allow sleeping in classrooms, lounges, hallways, etc. Make appropriate arrangements so that team members can sleep in dorms, hotels or nearby residences. Dorm residents hosting hunters should adhere to the guest policies of their residence halls.
• Be sure team members stay hydrated and have nutritious food to eat over the course of the weekend. Not just Oreos and Mountain Dew. There are food options available nearby in Kendall Square, Central Square, and the MIT Student Center.

Minors

• Minors may attend or participate in Mystery Hunt from on-campus locations between the hours of 6:00 AM and 1:00 AM.
• Minors must be accompanied by a parent/guardian at all times or be part of an official school group accompanied by an appropriate number of chaperones.
• Minors must travel to and from campus with their parent/guardian/school group.
• If you need to interact with an unsupervised minor, have another adult present and conduct those interactions in a public environment where you can be observed.
• The full Regulations Regarding the Presence and Participation of Minors should be reviewed by every team captain, along with the MIT Code of Conduct for Working with Minors.

Maintain a Harassment-Free Environment

• The MIT Mystery Hunt is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
• MIT policies expressly prohibit harassment, including sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, gender-based harassment and stalking. All teams and participants must abide by MIT’s Harassment Policy. Hunt participants violating this policy may be expelled from Mystery Hunt at the organizers’ discretion.
• If you would like to report harassment, please remove yourself from the uncomfortable situation and contact Hunt HQ by email at guestservices@pennypark.fun.
• Team captains should make sure this policy is understood by all team members and should actively discourage harassment within and among teams.