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WorkSafeBC released their workplace safety protocols for personal services on Thursday, outlining how barbers, hairdressers, nail salons, aestheticians and cosmetologists are expected to operate when the province allows them to reopen.
Directives for the personal services industry were some of the many protocols that WorkSafeBC released for the first wave of businesses and services allowed to open in British Columbia as the province starts to relaunch the economy, including restaurants and retailers.
Businesses in all sectors are required to use these guidelines to develop their COVID-19 safety plans, which must be posted for customers and employees as operations reopen.
New WorkSafeBC guidelines for some businesses & organizations listed in Phase 2. Working with employees and unions, businesses must use these to create a public COVID-19 Safe Plan. https://t.co/ET1F6caQz9 #COVIDBC pic.twitter.com/jwVLfoXRyB
— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) May 15, 2020
“These guidelines are an important step in B.C.’s economic restart process, as they will support businesses and organizations developing their individual COVID-19 safety plans and measures to keep employees and customers safe,” said labour minister Harry Bains in a statement.
“We know that businesses will open at their own pace, and I encourage them to proceed in a careful way ensuring safety measures are in place, effective and understood.”
Greg Robins, executive director of the BeautyCouncil of Western Canada, says that they had a hand in contributing to, and providing feedback for, the final directives. For the most part, he believes beauticians shouldn't have an issue following WorkSafeBC's outline.
"Ultimately, what we want to see is compliance, and compliance comes with reasonable guidelines," Robins told NowMedia.
"There's sort of one thing in here that we know will have to be adapted on a case-by-case basis and that relates to the plexiglass or the barriers," he added, pointing to the second of four levels of protection outlined by WorkSafeBC.
They have offered four levels of protection for reopening businesses:
- "First level protection (elimination): Use policies and procedures to keep people at a safe physical distance from one another. Limit the number of people in your workplace at any one time, and implement protocols to keep workers at least 2 metres from other workers, customers, and members of the public."
- "Second level protection (engineering controls): If you can’t always maintain physical distancing, install barriers such as plexiglass to separate people."
- "Third level protection (administrative controls): Establish rules and guidelines, such as cleaning protocols, telling workers to not share tools, or implementing one-way doors or walkways."
- "Fourth level protection (PPE): If the first three levels of protection aren’t enough to control the risks, supply workers with personal protective equipment (PPE), such as non-medical masks. PPE should not be used as the only control measure. It should only be used in combination with other measures."
For personal services, specifically, they've outlined numerous other protocols, like rearranging workstations, removing product testers, providing masks for clients and beauticians, and additional time to clean and disinfect tools and equipment.
We’re urging all workers in BC to know the regulations for your industry, and understand your employer’s health and safety responsibilities. For COVID-19 information related to the workplace, visit: https://t.co/rp6V3onrXp #LetsDoOurPartBC #COVIDBC pic.twitter.com/zbg8sshCVv
— WorkSafeBC (@WorkSafeBC) May 15, 2020
"We're really happy and grateful to see that many of the operators are becoming much more hyperaware of their salon hygiene practices and virus transmission control procedures," Robins said.
Under these stringent new measures, though, Robins says some beauticians are concerned about financial viability, considering they're likely to work with reduced revenue, but with the same costs that come staple to the industry. Some are also concerned about the lead up to reopening.
"There's a mix of anxiety about when the order will be lifted, and how if any particular directives in a revised, enhanced protocol, could conflict or add any pressure," Robins noted. "What I mean by that is: will there be additional restrictions next week that aren't listed here in the WorkSafeBC directive?"
Robins says that while he expects the "vast majority" of operations to reopen by June 1, but that's contingent on directions from the provincial government and provincial health officer.
In a survey conducted by BeautyCouncil in April, more than 1,600 professional respondents were asked when they would like to return to work between the months of May and July. The end of May was the second most popular choice, behind the end of July.
Some BC hairstylists started a petition at the beginning of May urging Premier John Horgan not to include hairdressers in the second reopening stage of the "BC's Restart Plan," which is the earliest stage for businesses to reopen.
The petition has received over 13,000 signatures since then, but hairstylists, like all personal service people, are currently included in stage two of the strategy.
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