Published by the Irish Hairdressers Federation, the guidelines outline measures that would allow hair salons to reopen early.
The Irish Hairdressers Federation (IHF) has outlined a number of measures that it says should allow salons to reopen ahead of time. Pushing for an early reopening, the federation believes that the newly released guidelines would enable hairdressers and barbers to get back up and running by the end of June - proposing to move the date from phase 4 to phase 3 instead.
Releasing a document with over 100 specific recommendations for barbers and hair salons, each one is tailored to make the service as safe an experience as possible. Drafted in conjunction with the HSE and the Health Safety Authority, the document outlines a number of measures aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19 with recommendations including the use of PPE (by both customers and staff) and detailed team training on how to tactfully approach customer sanitisation requirements.
President of the IHF, Danielle Kennedy said:
"Our guidelines go above and beyond the Government's advice on what to do, and will enable hairdressers and barbershops to reopen safely in Phase 3 rather than Phase 4.
"This is an extremely safe and cautious set of guidelines. There are in-depth procedures on staff training, sanitisation, hand hygiene, social distancing, screening of clients and use of PPE."
She went on to add:
"There are 25,000 people employed in our sector and we want to ensure they can come back to work safely. If we wait any longer to reopen, hundreds of small businesses will go bust and thousands of people will lose their jobs."
Leo Varadkar addressed the nation on Friday afternoon, updating the public on the Government's roadmap for the easing of restrictions. However, while a number of measures were fast-tracked, Varadkar confirmed that the proposed reopening for"things like hairdressers, barbers, nail bars" remains in phase 4.
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