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Government guidance
The latest safety advice applies to cafés, restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaways. Every business must carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment, as it remains a public health emergency, despite the reopening. The risk assessment is aimed at protecting staff and customers.
The Health and Safety Executive has produced a new set of guidelines for businesses who need to carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment. It provides specific advice on controlling the risks of coronavirus in the workplace.
How have businesses had to adapt?
The food industry is having to adapt to the ever-changing safety laws. After the lockdown began in March, restaurants, cafes and pubs serving food were permitted to operate as a takeaway. This had its own set of guidelines to improve customer and employee safety.
Now they are reopening to serve customers in person, businesses are having to adapt again. The government issued its latest guidelines on 3rd July to restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaway services, including the self-employed.
Employers must reduce the workplace risks to the lowest possible level, using preventative measures. Workers and customers who are feeling unwell must not enter the venue under any circumstances.
Social distancing
Good hygiene remains of the utmost importance: this means increasing the frequency of surface-cleaning and handwashing. Employers should also make a "reasonable effort" to comply with the social distancing guidelines, maintaining the two-metre distance when possible, or one metre with risk-mitigating actions.
The guidelines recognise that it may be difficult to maintain the full 2m distance in pubs and restaurants, so businesses are expected to put in place further safety measures, such as using screens or barriers to separate employees from each other and from customers at service points.
In places such as the kitchen, employers are advised to use back-to-back or side-to-side work stations, rather than having staff working face-to-face, whenever possible.
Useful tips
General guidance has been issued to help staff and customers stay safe at all times when dining out. Diners can now order their meals on an app to avoid excess face-to-face contact with staff. Pub-goers are encouraged to book tables in advance, especially if they intend dining, as venues should limit the number of customers inside the premises at any given time.
There should be more notices posted, advising kitchen and serving staff to wash their hands frequently before handling cutlery and plates.
Pubs are advised to keep music at a quiet volume so customers don't need to shout to make themselves heard, as shouting can increase the risk of transmission - scientists say shouting is more likely to spread the virus due to airborne droplets.
Live gigs are banned for the same reason, as singing is classed as having the same risks as shouting. Standing at the bar is also banned and there should be controlled access to public toilets.
Storing food safely
The main focus is keeping the workplace scrupulously clean - and this includes storing food properly and wiping down kitchen surfaces more frequently than usual. The appropriate food storage containers can help with cleanliness and efficiency.
For food storage containers and trays in various sizes, round catering bins, Gastronorm food storage and ingredient containers, plastic bottle storage crates for beers, wine and spirits, ingredients storage bins, catering airtight buckets and Jerrycans, bottle bins and bar trolleys (pheww!), please contact Solent Plastics on 01794 514478 or email sales@solentplastics.co.uk for further details.