Beauty salons, tattoo studio and physical therapists can reopen

Government has announced more of the health and beauty sector can begin to reopen, once businesses implement COVID Secure guidelines.

Beauty salons, nail bars, tattoo and massage studios, physical therapy businesses and spas across England are permitted be reopen safely from Monday 13th July.

Before reopening, businesses must ensure they meet COVID Secure guidelines.

Services that involve work in high risk zone (directly in front of the face) are not permitted, due to the much greater risk of transmission. This means treatments such as face waxing, eyelash treatment, make-up application and facial treatments should not be provided until government advice changes.

Where 2 metre social distancing cannot be maintained, the person providing the treatment should wear further protection, in addition to any they usually wear. This should be a clear visor that covers the face, or the use of a screen that protects the practitioner and the customer from respiratory droplets caused by sneezing, coughing or speaking.

The guidance also states:

• screens or barriers should be used to separate clients from each other, and to separate practitioners from clients
•  appointment-only booking system should be used to minimise the number of people on the premises at any one time
• activity time should be kept to a minimum
• increased hand washing and surface cleaning should be carried out, as well as regularly equipment cleaning or using disposable equipment where possible
• skin to skin contact should be avoided and gloves should be worn where possible
• sufficient spacing between customer chairs should be given
• food or drink, other than water, should not be consumed in the salon by customers
• a limited and fixed number of workers should work together, if they have to be in close proximity to do their jobs

The guidance also applies to businesses that operate in different locations, such as massage therapists working in people’s homes, and those learning in vocational training environments.

To support the NHS Test and Trace service, businesses will need to keep records of staff and customers and share these if necessary to help identify people who may have been exposed to the virus.

Businesses will only be able to open from these dates once they have completed a risk assessment and are confident they are managing the risks. They must have taken the necessary steps to become COVID Secure in line with the current Health and Safety legislation.

Employers should display a downloadable notice in their workplaces to show their employees, customers and other visitors to their workplace, that they have followed this guidance.