Coronavirus (COVID-19): Business Advice

Hands, Face, Space, Fresh Air (200px)

The government has set out the roadmap out of the current lockdown for England and the easing of the restrictions, for more information see:

The following information has been developed by our Public Health & Regulation Department to support local businesses (food and non-food) to operate safely during coronavirus (COVID-19). It covers your legal requirements as a business, food safety, Health & Safety and infection control, with links to the latest guidance from the government:

Workplace Safety

Following the government's gradual easing of COVID-19 lockdown measures, new guidance has been produced for businesses to ensure workplaces are safe for employees and customers.

If your business operates more than one type of workplace (eg an office, a factory and a fleet of vehicles) you will need to read all of the guides that are relevant to you:

Businesses and venues that must remain closed to members of the public:

This guidance tells employers what actions to take if a member of staff becomes unwell, is a confirmed case of Covid19 or there are multiple cases:

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Checklists and Risk Assessment Templates for Businesses

To help you assess your ability to implement measures to ensure employee and public safety during this pandemic, the following checklists for businesses are available.

If you are unable to implement the measures required to reduce the risk of transmission, you will need to consider closing your businesses:

Checklist for food businesses:

Checklist for all businesses:

Risk assessment checklist template:

If you would like help with completing these checklists, please:

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Collection of Contact Details Regulations

Premises and venues across England must have a system in place to record contact details of their customers, visitors and staff in the latest move to break the chains of transmission of coronavirus.

These regulations are essential for enhanced contact tracing and will support local teams to respond to clusters and outbreaks in their area as England exits lockdown.

If your business or venue falls into one of the sectors or categories that should provide a customer log, then you must display an NHS QR code poster at your venue. This applies if you provide:

  • hospitality services, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés
  • tourism and leisure services, including hotels, museums, cinemas and amusement arcades
  • close contact services, including hairdressers, barbershops and tailors (including mobile close contact businesses)
  • community centres, libraries and village halls.

The Regulations were amended 29th March 2021 and you must now request that every individual scan the NHS QR code or provide their contact details upon arrival, not just the lead member of the group.

You should make sure that all your staff have been notified of this change.

Exemptions include children under the age of 16 and people entering the venue for drop off / takeaway only.

Before reopening your venue, you must make sure that you understand your obligations to:

  • Display an official NHS QR code poster
  • Request that all customers and visitors scan the NHS QR code or provide their contact details
  • Keep a record of all staff including shift times
  • Provide an alternative method to collect contact details which doesn't require ownership of a smartphone (advance bookings where contact details are provided can serve as the source of this information)
  • Keep information securely for 21 days before destroying it, and provide it to NHS Test & Trace if requested
  • Hospitality venues only must also take reasonable steps to refuse entry to those who refuse to participate. This means you must to the best of your ability comply with the requirement to refuse entry and you should satisfy yourself that you have done all that could reasonably be expected.

The government is taking these steps because as COVID-19 prevalence drops, enhanced contact tracing will become increasingly important in enabling local teams to respond to outbreaks quickly.

How is the information used

NHS Test and Trace will use contact tracing information to identify venues where other individuals present may have been exposed to COVID-19 and need to be contacted.

If this happens, your venue will be contacted to request your logbook and you will be given detailed instructions about how to do this at the time, as well as further guidance and support about what this means for your business. Your venue will not automatically need to close, and your venue will also not be named when we contact individuals.

Individuals will be contacted with a 'warn and inform' message - this is not an instruction to self-isolate; it simply reminds individuals to follow guidance and look out for symptoms.

Do not be concerned if you are not asked to share your log-books - this simply means that we have not identified multiple positive cases linked to your venue. It is still essential to maintain log-books or NHS Test and Trace cannot contain outbreaks where they do occur.

Further guidance on the requirements can be found here:

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has produced guidance to ensure you are GDPR compliant when collecting and storing contact details:

QR Codes for test and trace

To generate a unique QR code to work with the app please see:

They will then need to be clearly displayed (either on a screen or printed off as a poster) so that visitors can use the app to scan the code when they arrive.

  • Printing: For those without printing facilities, this is available in a number of community facilities, such as libraries, as well as a range of commercial outlets.

See also:

Full details on which premises this applies to see:

For information on the NHS COVID-19 app, including how to download it and a series of FAQs, visit:

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Temporary open air structures

Outdoor structures with a roof or ceiling, must meet the same requirements as the Smoke-free (Premises and Enforcement) Regulations 2006.

Compliant - More than 50 percent open

  • A 50% total open wall area (known as the '50% rule').
  • In determining the area of the wall opening, no account can be taken of openings in which doors, windows or other fittings that can be open or shut.
  • Taking any two sides off of a square gazebo, or a long and a short side from a rectangle one, would be satisfactory, but these sides must not be put back while customers are present.
  • The opened sides of the structure should be 1.5m away from other walls, windows and doors.

If you have questions around this please contact us so we can support you and your businesses.

Photos:
above right: Compliant - 50% or more open
below: Not compliant - less than 50% open

Not compliant - less than 50 percent open

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Compliance checks

Compliance checks on venues will commence from 12th April 2021 (for those businesses able to reopen - and from May for all other venues). Please ensure that you are complying with the Collection of Contact Details Regulations in preparation as breaches of these requirements will result in penalties.

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Testing

As part of a government drive to encourage everyone who does not have coronavirus symptoms to get tested twice a week, home testing is being made available to everyone in England. Kits can be ordered to your home or to a local site

Find out more about asymptomatic testing:

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Staying Safe: Legal duty to self-isolate, face coverings and meeting people

Legal duty to self-isolate:

The government has issued a new legal duty to self-isolate:

Face coverings:

The government has issued guidance and advice on face coverings. It also explains what face coverings are, their role in reducing the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), the settings in which they are recommended, how they should be safely used and stored, and how to make one:

Meeting with others safely (social distancing):

The government has issued guidance and advice on meeting with others safely (social distancing):

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Beauty Salons, Spas and Close Contact Services

Close contact services are a higher risk activity so extra precautions are needed.

In summary, practitioners must now wear a visor AND a mask and clients must wear a face covering. For full details please see:

Close contact services

Salons, spas and beauty salons

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Food / Food Business specific advice

Reopening and adapting your food business during COVID-19

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) offer to following advice and guidance:

Please also refer to this guidance for food businesses about allergen management:

See also:

Takeaways and food delivery

Food processing and production settings

Food banks and community provision guidance for food banks, charities and volunteer organisations dealing with food

This guidance provides food safety information and guidance for individuals or groups wishing to prepare meals at home for their community:

Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH)

The CIEH have produced a range of resources relating to coronavirus (COVID‑19):

Drainage and cleaning advice for food businesses

Southern Water has produced some useful guidance for food businesses about how to clean and maintain kitchen equipment during a period of closure, and what you need to think about and do before you re-open:

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Health & Safety: Legionella, vehicles and PPE

Legionella guidance

As a result of businesses having to close and water systems being shut down during coronavirus (COVID-19), there is an increased risk of Legionella bacteria being present when the water system is switched back on.

Businesses that could be affected include hotels, B&Bs, leisure centres, gyms, clubs, spas and hairdressers.

Covid-19 could also increase the risk of waterborne infections, including Legionnaires' disease, in nursing and care homes.

These guides set out the requirements for Legionella control to avoid the potential for Legionnaires' disease:

Vehicle safety and social distancing

PPE

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Care Homes

Specific guidance has been developed for care homes, with information about how to work safely during coronavirus (COVID-19):

The government has given guidance on visiting care homes during coronavirus:

See also:

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Social Care and Education

Educational and childcare settings

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Sport, Leisure, Recreation and Play

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Safe use of Multi-Purpose Community Facilities

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Places of Worship

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Supporting our Town Centres

Adur & Worthing Councils are working with local businesses and partners, such as Sussex Police, Worthing TCI and traders' organisations to ensure our town centres can continue to open safely to the public.

The emphasis is on individual businesses to make sure their premises are safe places for shoppers and workers.

The following information many also be of use:

Tables and chairs

Public houses, restaurants, cafes and other food establishments can now apply to the Councils for a licence to place tables and chairs outside their premises for customers to sit to consume food and drink.

To support businesses bounce back from COVID the annual fee has been waived.

We strongly recommend that businesses secure their licence as your Public Liability insurance may not cover an outside area on the highway/pavement on which you have placed tables & chairs, but are not licensed to utilise.

For more details visit:

Alcohol sales

Changes to the Licensing Act 2003 came into force at the end of July allow licensed premises such as public houses, bars, cafes and restaurants to serve alcohol to customers seated in these designated outside areas.

Anyone looking for further information or guidance can contact the Councils' licensing team on:

Outdoor trading

Adur & Worthing Councils have put in place temporary road closures in Montague Place, Portland Road and Montague Street west specifically to assist the small businesses in these areas and allow limited outside trading in accordance with social distancing guidelines.

The cafes, restaurants and bars in these areas are advised to consider how best they can use this opportunity to reopen successfully. To get advice on reopening a licensed premises and/or the use of the space outside your licensed premises contact the Councils' Licensing Unit on:

Pavement licences guidance

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How to contact Public Health and Regulation

We now have Covid Information Officers to help provide information, advice, and guidance to our businesses.

Contact details are below for each area:

If you need extra support or have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Public Health & Regulation.

You can send us an email at:

You can also give us a ring on 01903 221064.

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