Reach Out and Connect: Trading through the Lockdown with Merton Council
We heard from Merton Council’s Regulatory Services Partnership Officers from their Food Safety & Hygiene, Trading Standards and Highways teams offering their insights about how they are applying the “Covid” rules and sharing best practice.
Topics that were discussed included:
- Re-opening guidelines to ensure you can open quickly and safely
- Promoting your business during lockdown
- Move to takeaway and distance selling
- liability and practicalities where customers not respecting SD inside, or queuing outside, your premise
- toilet facilities
- practicalities for staff when 2m rule can’t operate
- considerations when buying PPE and cloth facemasks
- best practice tips from “open” businesses
- free Reopening Checklist
- Covid scams targeting businesses
Trading Standards
- ‘COVID-19 secure’
- factors in driving Consumer confidence
- queuing
- Ecommerce / click and collect
- homemade facemasks
- keeping customers safe in small stores
- fake / non-standard PPE masks and antibody testing kits
- Covid scams targeting businesses – phishing etc
Environmental Health
- Move to takeaway – key points from CIEH guidelines
- business promoting themselves via hygiene ratings and “Covid audit” compliance
- food handling
- closing customer toilets
- practicalities for staff when 2m rule can’t operate eg. small kitchens or newsagents
Licensing
- Licensing covers issues such as alcohol off-sales now restaurants are in takeaway mode.
Street Trading
- covering street trading in the borough,
- looking at forecourts, tables and chairs, individual stalls and markets.
- Focus will be on how they can operate and what they need to do at present.
- Follow up questions will probably be the main point here as the environment is shifting constantly
Highways
- Social Distance stickers/barriers on public highway
- Recommended type of stickers we can signpost them to
https://www.merton.gov.uk/streets-parking-transport/lip3
https://www.mertonchamber.co.uk/post/social-distancing-equipment
About Regulatory Services Partnership (RSP)
The RSP has pooled together over 60 highly trained, experienced advisors from across the regulatory services of the LB Councils of Merton, Wandsworth and Richmond Upon Thames.
The RSP is here to support businesses and offers advice and support across the variety of regulation:
- Environmental Health (Food Safety and Labelling)
- Health and Safety
- Trading Standards
- Pollution (Air, Noise, Water)
- Pest Control
- Licensing.
The RSP is working towards providing a one-stop shop to obtain advice on any regulatory matter. This will be available on a cost recovery basis, meaning they don’t make a single penny of profit!
Diana mentioned Merton Chamber members who are offering services to support businesses, they included:
- Steve Bennett, Safety Delivery – is providing members of the Chamber with a checklist
- Sylvia Anderson, Sylvia A Consultancy – Food Hygiene guidance
- Antony Dennington, Positive Images / Social Distancing Solutions. – Print Solutions
Questions during the meeting covered a variety of topics, from a range of business sectors. They included:
- are there any guide lines for the responsibilities for employers toward employees
- Do you have any advice on how to calculate the maximum number of customers in a store / shopping centre. e.g 4 sqm per customer etc?
- At Wimblecomm we have around 50 venues as members who run community spaces for hire. Many of these are very small and run by volunteers. Are any of the panellists aware of any specific guidance anywhere about how they should arrange bookings. Should there be a new limit on numbers using the space? Can the risk be passed on to the user by the contract?
- Robert Dyas will be opening on Monday. we need to address the outdoor queue question as we anticipate a steady stream of customers who have been anticipating our return. the obvious solution is to queue down our side wall, however we will need the street vendors down the sidewAy to Morrison’s car park, to move 2 feet forward allowing our customers to queue behind them.
- Q: Following on from the Sec of State’s notice on Tuesday about enforcement on businesses that are not displaying the 5 steps notice, will Merton council be enforcing this or taking an advisory stance initially?
A: From helen clark, London Borough of Merton to Everyone: 12:12 PM – we will be taking an advisory stance initially, businesses do need to make their own risk assessments. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/5-steps-to-working-safely - Question for Environmental Health please. I perform manual therapy from my home studio and as part of my professional body membership (FHT) and insurance, they require us to create a risk assessment prior to opening day, would the council need a copy of this too? Thank you
- just on this point- is there also restrictions on how many people can meet in a group together?
- Love Wimbledon Our vinyls remind about social distancing without mentioning 2 metres!!
- Does anyone in the RSP have any advice for public use of toilets? If hospitality open will they have requirements to open their toilets?
From Helen Clark Bell to Everyone: 12:42 PM – Really helpful session – Many thanks
From karine torr to Everyone: 12:42 PM – karine torr www.darlingmagazine.co.uk pls get in touch
From Stella Gurney to Everyone: 12:42 PM – Many thanks
From Holly Jackson to Everyone: 12:42 PM – Thanks
