Covid-19 direction for personal care services
The Minister of Small Business Development has gazetted a Covid-19 direction for personal care services. The direction has been introduced to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in personal care services and it applies to employees and customers. These protocols supplement the existing level 3 lockdown regulations and directions (particularly the directions issued by the Department of Employment & Labour and Department of Health).
The following categories of services are permitted to resume operations subject to specific health & safety protocols:
| Hairdressing | Barbering | Nail and toe treatment | Facial treatment and make-up |
Body massage | Tattooing and body piercing |
The direction applies to personal care services that operate in the formal and informal sectors of the economy. All salons must comply with the following minimum health & safety standards:
- Hand washing
- Social distancing between employees and customers
- Use of cloth masks at all times (and more protective masks for close facial contact)
- Cleaning and disinfection of touch areas and equipment
The direction incorporates Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the following areas:
|
Formal salon premises | Informal salon premises (in-building and public spaces/open air) | Formal tattoing and body piercing studios | Informal tattoing and body piercing studios |
The SOPs provide specific protocols on the following issues:
- Handwashing or sanitizing (e.g. all customers must be provided with hand sanitizer or required to wash their hands prior to entering the premises)
- Cleaning of premises and equipment (e.g. premises must be cleaned before and after use)
- Personal garment and Personal Protective Equipment (e.g. stylists at salons must be a face/shield/visor that must be cleaned after serving each customer)
- Compliance (e.g. prior to treatment, customers should be provided with an explanation of applicable Covid-19 protocols)
- Access and booking (e.g. employees above the age of 60 or with co-morbidities must be discouraged from working)
- Work areas (e.g. work areas should be spaced at least 1.5 meters apart)
Revised Covid-19 direction for communications and technologies sector
The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies has issued a revised Covid-19 direction for the communications and technologies sector. The direction has been introduced to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in the communications and technologies sector.
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There are different mitigation measures introduced for the following sectors:
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Electronic communications services and electronic communications network services as defined in the Electronic Communications Act | Broadcasting services | Postal services |
The table below provides a summary of the key mitigation measures per sector:
|
Sector |
Mitigation measure |
|---|
| Electronic communications services and electronic communications network services | - Containers / shipments must on arrival be sanitised before handover
- Electronic communications facilities, equipment and materials used must be sanitised daily including at a warehouse
- Products must be sanitised before being packaged for consumers
- Employees must be thermal scanned daily and must sanitise throughout the day
|
Broadcasting services
- Online services
- Productions for local broadcast and live streaming
- Broadcasting services
- Advertising agencies
- Film and television productions
| The direction provides that such services must comply with all health protocols and social distancing requirements. In film and television productions, the following applies: - Based on risk assessment, broadcasters may elect to resume productions including location shoots, outdoor scenes or group scenes with close proximity shots
- Broadcasters must limit productions to content that can be produced in controlled environments
- In location shoots, precaution must be taken to limit interaction with members of the public
- Travel for filming must be limited to cast and crew only
- Broadcasters must implement solutions that protect performers and production crews
|
Postal services
- Courier services
- Reserved and unreserved postal services
- Financial services (provision of banking services by the South African Postbank)
- Payment of social grants by the South African Post Office through the South African Postbank, post office branches and other methods
| The direction must be read together with the directions on e-commerce sales published on 14 May 2020. You can read our summary of that direction here. Courier services must adhere to the following protocols: - Courier employees must be thermal scanned daily and must sanitise throughout the day
- Equipment and materials used must be sanitized daily
- Courier drivers must be provided with masks
- Couriers must keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters when delivering end-user and subscriber equipment
The postal services value chain must adhere to the following protocols: - Containers / shipments on arrival must be sanitised before handover
- Equipment and materials used must be sanitized daily
- Mail and parcels must be sanitized when sorted and before being packaged for consumers
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