Seating will need changing, customers urged to book in advance.
Nigel Holland
Courtesy of BBC
Updated guidance has been published on how hairdressers, hotels, pubs and other businesses in England can reopen safely from 4 July.
It includes advice to reconfigure seating, minimise self-service, cancel live acts and stagger arrivals.
Customers will be urged to book in advance, order online or through apps and not to lean on counters.
It comes after Boris Johnson announced sweeping changes to England’s lockdown, including a relaxing of the 2m rule.
Pubs, restaurants, cinemas and hairdressers are among the venues which will be allowed to reopen in ten days’ time.
- Lifting lockdown: A round-up
- Who are we allowed to meet up with?
- Is it safe to relax the 2m rule?
- Still closed – the shops that won’t be reopening
The updated government guidance includes some general advice for all businesses as well as guidance for specific sectors.
It says businesses should carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment to ensure the safety of their workplace, which should be shared on their website, and also develop cleaning and hygiene procedures.
Guidance for close contact services such as hairdressers says employees should wear a visor where it is not possible to maintain distance and customers could also be separated from each other by screens.
Places like pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers are asked to keep a temporary record of customers and visitors for 21 days, to support the test and trace system.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said he expected people to continue to use “common sense” and follow government guidelines.
But he said there was a “legal duty” for businesses to keep their employees safe and the Health and Safety Executive could take action if not.
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of trade union body the TUC, said the more government relaxes lockdown “the tougher it needs to get on health and safety at work”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it should be a legal requirement for employers to publish risk assessments on their website, adding too many companies were “not doing the right thing”.