2. Develop Cleaning, Handwashing and Hygiene Procedures
All members of staff should be encouraged to regularly wash their hands for at least 20 seconds - NHS guidance can be read here. It is advised to provide hand sanitiser in the workplace and increase cleaning of areas and objects which are touched regularly such as tables, worksurfaces, counters and products. If your business has a bathroom either for customers or staff, ensure you have clear guidance for their use and for cleaning them. For full guidance on cleaning in non-healthcare settings go here.
Although the hospitality sector is not set to reopen until July at the earliest, restaurants, pubs, cafes, and other types of food businesses are able to sell products for delivery or collection, if the correct guidance is followed. You can read through the ‘Reopening checklist for food businesses’ here as well as the Government specific guidance here.
3. Help People to Work from Home
Continued advice remains that if possible, encourage your staff to work from home. Check that they have all the correct equipment, include them in communications and have regular virtual check-ins with them. Maintaining positive physical and mental wellbeing is important to think about when employees are at home. You can visit the Every Mind Matters page to either share ideas with your staff or to help yourself manage your own wellbeing.
4. Maintain 2m Social Distancing, Where Possible
Under Government advice, businesses need to try to enforce the 2m social distancing rule wherever possible both on shop floors and within staff areas. You could do this by:
- Putting up signs to remind workers and visitors of social distancing guidance
- Avoiding sharing workstations
- Using floor tape or paint to mark areas to help people keep to a 2m distance
- Arranging one-way traffic through the workplace if possible
- Switching to seeing visitors by appointment only if possible
5. Where People Cannot Be 2m Apart, Manage Transmission Risk
Transmission risk can be both person to person or person to surface, so minimising close contact between employers and customers is top priority. Possible measures could include:
- Creating barriers between shared spaces
- Shift patterns or fixed teams
- Staggering shift start and end times
- Use back-to-back or side-to-side working styles
- Consider which activities are needed for the business to operate
- Consider protective measures such as masks and screens
How To Get Your Property Ready
Every property will be different based on function, size and number of employees. However, all fire, electrical, health and safety risks should be checked and managed before opening. The following measures should be considered:
- Businesses have a duty to assess and implement measures to control the risk of legionella. Properties which have been left unoccupied and unused for a long period of time can build up stagnant water in their systems which can increase the risk of Legionnaires disease. This must be handled prior to opening, you can read the HSE guidance here
- Fire safety checks are important to carry out regularly, especially if your business has been closed for several weeks. This would include checking that smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and sprinklers are in working order. Conducting a fire safety drill with your workforce may also be beneficial. You can find more guidance from the NFCC here
- Other areas you may wish to check before reopening are heating systems, ventilation systems, gas safety, fire extinguishers, electrical hazards, plumbing and any security measures you may have in place
What Is the BID Doing?
We are working in close partnership with Southampton City Council to plan and implement measures across the city centre to ensure workers, residents and visitors have a hassle-free experience within a COVID-secure city. We are considering the following interventions:
- Suspending street parking and utilising carriageways to widen footpaths to allow for social distancing measures, especially in areas with narrow pathways (such as Bedford Place/East Street)
- Queue markers around areas of expected high footfall such as Above Bar Street and High Street including the introduction of clearly marked one-way queues and exit systems
- Additional stewards or security may be needed to help manage queues and pedestrian flows in the city
Additional cleaning regimes are already in place to ensure high contact areas of the city centre are being safely and routinely cleaned, ready for when visitors return. The BID’s cleaning team are working in partnership with Southampton City Council’s cleaning team to jet wash and disinfect public furniture with antiviral spray across the city centre on a daily rotation. More measures are being thought through to allow for extra cleaning.
A Reopening High Streets Safely Fund of £50m was announced this week, which will be split across local councils to support the reopening of the high street by implementing the necessary measures. We hope that through this funding, we can work with the council to ensure the correct procedures are put in place both outside our businesses and on the high streets.
Our number one priority is supporting our businesses through the phased recovery. If you have any specific queries, get in touch with us on info@gosouthampton.co.uk. You can also fill out our recovery survey here, to help us better understand how we can provide the appropriate support during this time.
We want to help our levy payers as best we can through this time, and with that need funding from levy bills to do so. We recently sent out our BID levy bills in March but few have been paid. We are extremely grateful to the businesses who have paid them and can understand why most haven't. Please do pay your levy bill as soon as you can afford to do so. That way we can play a major part in bringing the city back to life and attracting customers to your door.
Useful Links
- View social distancing and hygiene guidance from Association of Convenience Stores here.
- Read HSE’s short guide to working safely during the coronavirus outbreak here.
- Visit the British Retail Consortium coronavirus hub for more information and business webinars here.
- Read the Paris Smith returning to work page from here.
- Read how to clean your workplace safely here.
- Read the Governments COVID-19 Action Plan here.
- For Government guidance for businesses, employers and employees go here.
- Sign up for the Government’s specific business support email bulletins here.
- Sign up for general Government coronavirus email updates here.
- Check if your business can reopen here.
- Watch and sign up for Government webinars for further support here.
- View the Council's latest coronavirus information here.
- Sign up for the Council's business e-newsletter here.
Our Contact Information
You can reach the BID team via info@gosouthampton.co.uk. If you have any queries at all, or if you think we might be able to help you with something specific, please do not hesitate to contact us.
