Covid-19 risk assessment

Ok, so you have a restaurant and you have been closed since March, but finally the Government says that its ok, its safe for you, your staff and customers to open up now. Hurray you think… I can finally bring my staff back from Furlough and start doing what we do best… hospitality, serving food and drinks and making people smile.

But before you are finally allowed to open those doors the Government says you need to think about RISK and how Covid-19 could affect your staff and customers. We all know that Covid-19 is a public health emergency and we are used to queuing up outside the supermarket and maintaining social distancing. But here is the million dollar question folks, how do you even start thinking about every single area in your business where your workers and customers need to be protected from this invisible risk??? as well as putting measures in place to do everything reasonably practicable to minimise that risk (health and safety speak)

The Government has produced guidance for restaurants on working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)  great, amazing I hear you all shout “where do I find this information?”

Here it is…

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery

So, you need to consider such things as social distancing, cleaning, to PPE or not to PPE, start and finish times, who can come to work, what to tell your customers, what to record and when and so on and on…

Once you have considered all of these you need to write down your findings (and control measures) and communicate them with your customers and staff, and don’t forget to review everything frequently.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? well for the experienced amongst you yes it probably is. However, some of you may need assistance… that’s where we can help. We have a template that we guide you through or we can come and complete a preopening audit with you. Whatever works for you, just give us a call and we can have a chat.