Beauty salons and barber shops are required to follow a host of stringent measures to avoid the possibility of any Covid-19 infection among their customers and staff following the resumption of their operations, a senior official has stressed.
Dr Muna al-Maslamani, medical director of the Communicable Disease Center at Hamad Medical Corporation, told local Arabic daily Arrayah that there are 41 precautionary measures to be followed at these places for the protection of all, which include wearing face masks, providing hand sanitisers on the premises and avoid face-to-face interactions as much as possible.
It is also advisable to provide face shields for the staff, especially when offering hair washing services, in addition to exploring the possibility of covering the face of the client with a clean towel to protect his or her face and mouth.
For payment, using debit/credit cards and contactless modes should be encouraged, she said. Salons and barber shops should also consider the possibility of changing their water taps with automatic ones, besides providing touchless soap dispensers, paper towels and sanitiser dispensers. Further, these outlets should make greater use of single-use tools and materials at work, and dispose of them safely immediately after attending to a customer.
Dr al-Maslamani said the precautionary measures also include the possibility of installing barriers between chairs and making sure that all areas are sanitised frequently, including waiting areas and those meant for the staff.
Each shop or salon should put up awareness posters to explain the importance of abiding by precautionary measures and washing hands more often with water and soap. They should also adopt more flexible working hours to achieve the recommended social distancing among those present at any given time.
Surfaces should be sanitised properly and office equipment and computers should not be shared, while all workers need to have their own personal protective gear. It is preferable to use vacuum cleaners instead of manual modes of cleaning the place to avoid the spread of germs. In the meantime, the workplace should be well ventilated and have proper air circulation at all times.
Workers should be more careful about their personal hygiene and replace their face masks at least once every four hours.
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