Back To Business - Reopening guide for beauty salons. Part 1 - before reopening

Contact your staff

As soon as you have a reopening date you will need to let your employees know.

Tell them:

Your reopening date.
If their first day back will be on a different date (for example, if they work part-time or you are introducing new rotas.)
The plans you have in place to protect them and your clients.
What they must do to protect themselves, each other and clients in the workplace.
What will be happening about their wages and coming off furlough.
To let you know if they have any questions, worries or concerns about coming back to work.

Don’t forget to keep all your staff informed including, for example, those on maternity or other types of leave. Make sure everyone’s contact numbers and emergency contact details are up to date.

Contact your clients

Let your clients know when you have a definite reopening date. Use your usual methods of communication – for example, email, text, social media and your website. Explain that:

It may be difficult to get an appointment at first due to high demand.
Some services and treatments may not be on offer until further notice.
You have put measures in place to protect staff and clients during their appointment.
They will need to comply with your health & safety measures during their appointment.
They must not come in if they feel unwell or live with someone who is unwell.
You would prefer contactless payment if possible.

Carry out a risk assessment

The law says that salons and barbershops must consider all risks to their employees, clients and anyone who may be affected by their activities. You must do what you can to minimise these risks. Coronavirus is a new type
of risk that must now be assessed along with the usual risks that are present in a salon or barbershop.

Stay legal
Failure to complete risk assessments (including a coronavirus risk assessment) or to put in place sufficient measures to control the risks identified, could be a breach of health and safety law. This could lead to enforcement action and may affect your future licence applications (eg a skin piercing licence).

How to assess and control risks

Every workplace is different and so a risk assessment cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ exercise. However, carrying out a risk assessment is not necessarily the daunting task that many people think it is. It’s simply a question of looking at the risks and working out what can be done to minimise them. This includes:

Ensuring workers and clients who feel unwell stay at home.
Increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.
Complying with social distancing guidelines (two metres or one metre with risk mitigation* where two metres is not possible).
Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity can continue. If you do continue, you should take every possible action to reduce the risk of virus transmission. This would include following the government guidelines on PPE (personal protective equipment).

Risk mitigation includes:

Increasing handwashing and surface cleaning.
Keeping the activity time as short as possible.
Using screens or barriers.
Working back-to-back or side-to- side (not face-to-face).
Using a consistent employee pairing system.

If risk mitigation is not possible, do not continue with the activity. Remember that your risk assessment should take into account if your staff are especially vulnerable to contracting coronavirus. Local councils can help if you have any questions about dealing with coronavirus. Find your local council

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