“It’s time to sweep out old practices and bring in new practices,” said USBG National Charity Foundation volunteer board member Kim Haasarud during Thursday, August 20th’s Instagram Live update.
Haasarud spent the Instagram Live session discussing best practices for keeping bar owners and their staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. She acknowledged that bars may already be doing many of these things, but that it’s important for them all to become like second nature.
Here’s the top 10 list she shared:
1. If you are sick, stay home.
Anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 or exposed to another person with COVID-19 should quarantine for at least 10 days and wait until it’s been 24 hours since they’ve had no symptoms before returning to work. Haasarud says responsible employers will implement a plan where any sick employees are encourage to stay home.
2. Bars should put strict hand-washing practices in place and make sure everyone knows what they are.
Haasarud gave the example of one bar that rings a bell every 30 minutes to remind employees to wash their hands.
3. Don’t touch your face, eyes, nose, or mouth.
4. Make sure you have strong procedures in place to clean and sanitize surface areas.
Make sure everyone knows about the procedures and talk about them in any pre-shift meetings.
5. Always wear your mask over your mouth and nose and only remove it by the elastic bands.
6. Keep masks clean by washing them in hot, soapy water or by throwing them in the washing machine.
7. Social distancing measures based on square footage should also take into consideration service areas.
If a distance of six feet can’t be maintained in service areas, limit the number of people allowed in those areas at one time.
8. If you can’t keep staff socially distanced six feet in your establishment, then up the ante on cleaning and hand washing.
9. Limit the number of employees in break rooms and other common areas.
10. Use digital messaging to convey pre-shift notes, new practices, etc.
