Your Business Recovery Guidance for reopening and growing your business
By Southside Business Improvement District Ltd
Latest advice on reopening • Takeaway services, Estate Agencies and food retailers can open immediately as can non customer facing businesses that cannot work from home. • From June 1st, outdoor markets can open with social distancing measures in place • From June 15th, non essential retailers may reopen, such as clothes shops (no fitting rooms & any returned items must be quarantined safely for 72 hours before being returned to the shop floor) • From July onwards – subject to government guidance and further restrictions other businesses may open such as restaurants, bars, venues, cinema, hair & beauty businesses, tattoo parlours, etc.
Getting Southside District ready to reopen Cleansing
We have undertaken a deep clean of our district prior to the reopening of Southside businesses. Once all businesses are reopen, we will increase our Clean Team capacity in highly visible ways to enhance cleanliness and provide reassurance for our colleagues and customers Signage We will provide signage across our district to promote social distancing, identifying the nearest open spaces are for colleagues and customers. Queuing Guides We will provide support to mark out the pavements outside stores to enable a district wide, uniformed system for safe queueing PPE We have a supply of facemasks in case businesses need them. Security Our Street Warden Team will continue to work at full capacity. We will review personnel capacity on a daily basis Public Space & Transport We are working with Birmingham City Council, WM Travel and major property owners to explore the possibility of road closures and traffic reduction to enable Government social distancing practise.
Birmingham Welcomes You Back! Promote your reopening!
Contact us for free use of creative assets
Joint city centre BIDs marketing campaign to drive footfall back into the city centre and promote reopening of individual businesses.
WATCH THE STORY OF SOUTHSIDE IN LOCKDOWN HERE
Government guidance on social distancing at the time of publication. (29/05/20) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/social-distancing-in-the-workplace-duringcoronavirus-covid-19-sector-guidance Public Health England materials https://coronavirusresources.phe.gov.uk/
The latest Government Guidance
Overall guidance for businesses on how to operate in England is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-andbusinesses-about-covid-19/guidance-for-employers-and-businesses-oncoronavirus-covid-19 Advice for Retailers https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
Advice for Restaurants & Takeaways https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19 Advice for Offices/Call Centres https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safelyduring-coronavirus-covid-19 Details on the NHS Test and Trace scheme https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works
Key elements of this guidance relevant to you: •
Employers and employees should discuss their working arrangements, and employers should take every possible step to facilitate their employees working from home.
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Sometimes this will not be possible, as not everyone can work from home and if you have staff or volunteers onsite, you should ensure that they are able to follow Public Health England guidelines including that: − spaces are optimised to allow social distancing to occur, wherever possible.
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Signs are visible in the workplace reminding employees not to attend work if they have a fever or cough & to avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
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Employees are provided with hand sanitiser for frequent use and regular opportunities to allow them to wash their hands for 20 seconds.
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At all times, workers should follow the guidance on self-isolation if they or anyone in their household shows symptoms.
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PHE does not at this time, advise the use of masks in public places and for those working in retail or similar settings. (This means that the use of PPE will generally only be required for the work activities that had already been identified by an employer’s own risk assessments, pre-COVID).
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Members of staff who are vulnerable (including pregnant workers), as well as individuals whom they live with, should be supported as they follow the recommendations set out in guidance on social distancing and shielding, respectively.
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Employers will also need to consider the support employees may require as part of the NHS Test and Trace scheme. Those identified as having been in close contact with someone who has a positive test must stay at home for 14 days, even if they do not have symptoms, to stop unknowingly spreading the virus.
Crowd Control • To protect staff and customers, businesses should manage entry into the store, only allowing a limited number of people into your store at any given time. • Businesses should put up signage to ask customers with symptoms not to enter the store, and to remind both staff and customers to always keep 2 metres from other people, wherever possible.
Hygiene • Businesses should regularly encourage staff to wash their hands with soap and water as often as possible and for 20 seconds every time. • If feasible, businesses should also put up Plexiglass barriers at all points of regular interaction to further reduce the risk of infection for all parties involved, cleaning the barriers regularly. •
Business should encourage the use of contactless
payments where possible, without disadvantaging older or vulnerable customers. • To protect staff, businesses should remind colleagues daily to only come into work if they are well and no one in their household is self-isolating. • For the protection of staff and delivery drivers, stock rooms, goods-in areas and onsite warehousing should be arranged where possible to maintain social distancing
How to work out what space people need to move around in your business. 1. Measure your floor space. 2. Multiply the length by the width. Get the square meterage. 3. Measure your display areas
4. Take out the measurement of any display areas, counters etc. (This gives you the walkable area) 5. Allow space for people to move about, a person needs 10 sqm of walkable space. So, divide the walkable area by 10. Now you know how many people can safely be in your business or office space. Here’s an example •
Overall floor space is: 11m (width) x 7m (length) = 77m2
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2 display areas of 1.5m (length) x 1m (width) = 3m2
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2 counter areas of 3m (length) x 1m (width) = 6m2
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Total display area – 9m2.
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Take the display area from the overall floor area: 77 – 9 = 68. You have 68m2 walkable area.
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68 ÷ 10 = 6.8 (each person requires 10 square metres of walkable space)
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You can have a maximum of 7 people in the space.
For retail, leisure/hospitality businesses, this includes members of staff you have front of house. Use the same formula to work out how many staff you can have at your till points / behind counters.
Review staff policies & risk Checklist Review safety processes and risk assessments in place for employees https://www.hse.gov.uk/simple-health-safety/risk/risk-assessment-template-and-examples.htm
Create a plan to reflect return to work, fixed teams on shifts and flexible working Consider: – Prioritising working from home – Vulnerable staff – Safe commuting available Circulate new policies, health measures and timescales with staff and across the Workplace Devise advice on safe commuting Order the necessary PPE for staff to undertake their work safely Can staff be tested? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested
Y/N
Check your venue
Checklist Review internal policies to meet latest guidance Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and mechanicals
Fire/Life Safety systems SLA cleansing services and frequency Security measures for your office
Y/N
Introduce physical distancing Checklist Identify and control access points for staff & customers. Consider one-way systems. Work with your BID and landlord regarding support managing queueing or access Display health and safety policies in place across the workspace Provide PPE as required by the risk assessment Encourage increasing the frequency of hand washing Limit face to face meetings and use alternative technology
Apply social distancing on: – Office space – Separation panels, alternate seating spaces & communal areas – Reduce maximum capacity allowed and introduce flexible time slot usage – Customer facing areas – Display social distancing spaces & consider PPE for employees where necessary
Y/N?
Review surfaces & point of sale Checklist Review cleansing plan including potential new areas, hot spots, services, frequency, etc Disable touchscreens, consider low-touch or no-touch switches, doors and other fittings Remove high-touch shared tools such as whiteboard markers and remote controls Consider restocking with food/beverage single-serving items Provide sanitiser and cleansing products Implement a clean desk/counter policy Identify safe storage areas for personal items If possible, designate a specific enclosed room to isolate anyone with symptoms
Y/N
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Supplier list
Southside BID has a list of suppliers of such things as signage, PPE, temperature readers, etc . These suppliers have all been recommended by members For an updated supplier list, please email bidmanager@southsidebid.co.uk
Further help and support • Email bidmanager@southsidebid.co.uk • Join our Whatsapp Group • Sign up for our e-newsletter
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Disclaimer Please remember, however, that this guide does not constitute legal advice. Legislation is constantly changing so we can only present legal information at its highest level. We therefore strongly recommend that you seek the help of qualified legal advice, as we can't provide this.