Hermanns Jazz extended Worksafe Safety Plan – June 15, 2021

COVID-19 Safety Plan

Hermann’s Jazz Club

June 15, 2021 – Alcohol Service until 12am – Closed 1am

This COVID-19 Safety Plan is our business’ step-by-step response to increased awareness around, and our enhanced protocols for, the health and safety for our staff and our customers.

Our business is committing to following the steps outlined in each of the 6 areas mandated by WorkSafe BC and the official Public Health Order. Our plan includes outlining our physical changes, our increased protocols and our required usage of PPE.

Our goal with this plan is to create a workplace that is aware and responsive to the new protocols and physical changes to our workplace as a result of COVID-19. Through our enhanced awareness, we aim to help the Provincial Ministry of health to reduce the risk of person-to-person transmission through the following 6 measures in order of priority:

  1. – Creating more space between patrons and staff in our business.
  2. – Reducing the number of people in our business at any one time according to the latest Public Health Order.
  3. – Adding physical barriers between people working in our establishment that cannot otherwise maintain physical distancing.
  4. – Establishing new rules and guidelines for our staff to follow to help keep people physically distanced and to enhance our cleaning regimens.
  5. – Defining what positions and in what situations our staff will safely be using PPE, particularly non-medical masks, and sanitizing products to limit exposure to respiratory droplets.
  6. – Limiting gathering in accordance with the PHO.

Our plan is current as of this date: June 15, 2021 Our contact for COVID-19 related concerns is: Nichola Walkden You can reach our COVID-19 contact by email at: info@hermannsjazz.com Our customer-facing version of this plan is online at: www.hermannsjazz.com Per the Public Health Order, our capacity has been reduced from 155 to 40 to ensure adequate spacing.

 

Risks in Our Workplace

We have worked with our staff and identified the following risk areas in our workplace. We have accessed both physical proximity issues as well as surface contamination issues.

We have identified the following areas where people gather as points where 2 metres of physical distancing is difficult to maintain:

  • Washrooms
  • Behind bar and back hallway
  • Kitchen
  • Lounge hallway
  • Office

We have identified the following job roles, tasks and processes where workers are frequently close to one another or members of the public for periods of time that are longer than 15 minutes:

  • Shift change

We have identified that the following kitchen equipment, smallwares, computer and POS terminals are high touch surfaces that must be subject to rigorous cleaning protocols:

  • POS – handheld payment terminal

SHARED SHIFT/SHIFT CHANGE

  • Bar Service Gun
  • Beer Taps
  • Squirrel
  • Coffee Station

We have identified that the following locations as high touch surfaces that must be subject to more rigorous cleaning protocols:

  • Door handles – entrance/exit; washrooms
  • Service area/payment area of bar
  • SHIFT CHANGE
  • Handles of walk-in; beer fridges; light switches; music system; bar door handle.
  • Service trays
  • All dirty dishes must be removed to kitchen in an efficient manner.

 

We have created new protocols for reducing risk

In collaboration with our entire staff team and in consulting with the WorkSafe BC guidelines for Restaurants and the Public Health Order, we have outlined the following processes for reducing risk in our workplace.

Our enhanced Front of House Protocols are:

Servers will strive to:

  • Stand back at least 3 feet from the table when speaking to guests and approach the table only for service of food and beverage.
  • Maintain a dedicated place at every table from which to serve.
  • Leave drinks or food at the front of the table and let the guests grab them after the server has stood back.
  • Hold plates underneath with the thumb on the rim.
  • Use the cup handle to place cups on tables.
  • Use the stem to carry wine glasses.
  • Grip utensils by the handle and don’t let handles touch the food.
  • Keep hands off the bowl of a spoon or prongs of a fork.
  • Be extremely cautious of cross contamination when handling dishes and glassware to and from guests and when loading or unloading the glasswasher/dishwasher. Staff must ensure that they clean/sanitize their hands each time they touch something touched by someone else, prior to touching anything that will be transported to another person.

 

  • No counter service
  • We will place 2 m markers on the floor outside washrooms.
  • Whenever possible allow fresh air into our space while limiting the use of air conditioning
  •   For water service, staff will not provide refills at the table. For coffee service, staff will not touch cups when refilling.
  •   Staff will remove salt and pepper shakers, sauce dispensers, candles, and other table top items and only provide items when requested.
  • Each table has a sign that indicates whether the table is sanitized or not. This is to be turned to “not sanitized” when people are seated and changed to “sanitized when the table has been cleared, cleaned and sanitized.
  • Menus will be cleaned and sanitized for each seating.
  • For leftovers, staff will provide the guest with the container and let them pack the to-go box.

 

Our enhanced Back of House Protocols are:

  • Employees should wear kitchen uniforms. No street clothing to be worn in the kitchen.
  • We will limit the number of people who aren’t cooks and chefs entering the kitchen area. This includes deliveries, service technicians and sales people.
  • We have a staging area for deliveries outside of the kitchen. Where possible, we will unbox items before bringing them into the kitchen. Our receiving/delivery log will include date, time, company.
  • Kitchen and prep areas are wiped down in 30-minute intervals with approved sanitizer. This will include all fridge and door handles and faucet handles in the kitchen.
  • Our chefs and cooks will not regularly share knives, utensils or service tools. If shared, they will be cleaned/sanitized between users.
  • The dishwashing area will be clearly divided into “Clean End, “Dirty End” so dishwashers are not loading clean dirty and then removing clean to cross-contamination.
  • All kitchen sinks will have hand-washing instructions.
  • Our cook and chef teams will observe social distancing whenever possible, i.e.

when in the walk-in fridges/freezers, dry storage area, during staff meetings, staff meals, receiving orders, large prep jobs, etc.

  • In the kitchen, we will install directional signs for high traffic areas to keep a steady flow of people going in one area and coming out the other.
  • Our team members working in an open kitchen will wear non-medical grade masks.

We are installing barriers and partitions to protect our guests and staff.

We are using Barriers and Partitions in the following locations and ways in our business to separate people when physical distance of 2 m cannot be maintained. All our barriers are fixed in place and do not pose a risk to our staff or customers.

  • A physical barrier is being used to separate the bar/preparation area from patrons.
  • Plexiglass barriers are installed between any tables that are not 6’6” spaced.

 

Our People Protocols are changing to respond to COVID-19.

Our staffing protocols have changed as follows:

  • Masked are required.

-We require staff to declare that they will not come to work if they have had symptoms of COVID-19 in the 10 days prior to their shift. Should staff experience symptoms of COVID-19, they are required to contact Public Health at 8-1-1 and self-isolate if required.

  • In response to the PHO December 15, 2020 all staff will be required to sign a declaration to state they are asymptomatic prior to entering the workplace.
  • We have also required staff to refrain from coming to work if they have had close exposure to a person currently diagnosed with COVID-19.
  • Anyone who is returning to our workplace after travelling outside of BC must have self-isolated for 14  days while monitoring for symptoms before they can work in our business.
  • All staff must wash their hands upon arrival at work at the beginning of each shift and upon return from any breaks.
  • Visitors for deliveries and service are recorded as follows to assist with tracking in our delivery log.
  • As we are a restaurant, our staff must come in to work however, we are engaging in regular health and safety conversations and ensuring that our staff are bringing forward any concerns about the new work flow or restaurant layout in order to improve our COVID-19 response.
  • We have posted a Health Resource document to orient our staff to COVID-19 and any related health, bullying and mental health resources.
  • We are actively monitoring our social media and our guest feedback online and in person to ensure that we are not experiencing any backlash or negative engagement with customers and managing difficult situations accordingly to assist our staff through this difficult transition.

 

Our customer protocols have changed as follows:

  • Everyone (staff and guests) are required to wear a mask. Guests are allowed to remove their masks when they are seated and consuming food or drink. Masks are available from the bar.

-We have a hand sanitizing station for guests and staff when they enter the front door to immediately clean their hands.

  • We have a hand sanitizing station for guests to use before they enter the washrooms.
  • Parties will be limited to groups of no more than 6.
  • Capacity of the room is limited to 50 patrons.
  • Customers will be required to wait at appropriate 2 m distance in all areas where cueing is required.
  • Signage is posted at the entrance of the restaurant to ensure that no one with symptoms of COVID-19 or who has contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 will enter the restaurant.

We are aware that some guest may not like the new protocols we have instigated and have a staff person assigned to address issues. The point person is Nichola Walkden.

We have posted at the entrance to our business sign that show:

  • our current occupancy limit;
  • our core hygiene practices for both staff and guests;
  • the core public facing elements of our COVID-19 Safety Plan;
  • our restriction from entering the premises for any visitors or staff with symptoms of COVID-19.

We are committed to Ongoing Training.

In our business, we have provided restart training for all our staff and will be conducting training updates through email and notices to our staff to ensure that any changing regulations are enforced and to respond to any concerns being brought forward by staff or guests.

Our goal for our training is to ensure that our staff is safe in our workplace. Each staff person has agreed to our health check, as this is our front line defense against COVID-19 in our workplace. Our training covers:

  • Physical distancing measures
  • New sanitation and cleaning processes
  • Sanitation and cleaning product instructions and sitting time
  • Daily cleaning and deep cleaning checklists

Prior to reopening dine in, we cleaned all beverage service lines, fridges, pantries, counters, service and cooking areas, inside and outside tables and chairs that have not been in use.

Staff have a designated person to speak to, identified on the cover page of this document, who they can ask COVID-19 related questions to.

We require masks and have provided information about the safe use of masks.

We have enhanced our cleaning and hygiene practices in response to COVID-19.

We have selected Health Canada approved methods to clean and disinfect surfaces for all common areas and surfaces of our business.  Our WHMIS log book has been reviewed and all of the chemicals approved by Health Canada for COVID sanitizing have been highlighted and employed. (See WHMIS Log)

We have removed all table items from our tables and are providing them on demand so that they can be sanitized/cleaned between uses.

Hand-washing: We have installed hand-washing signage at sinks in washrooms, in the kitchen and staff room.

Bathrooms: Our bathrooms are cleaned every shift. All entry/exit and stall door handles, toilet seats, flush mechanisms, urinals and sinks will be cleaned each time.

High Touch Locations: High frequency touch locations are cleaned hourly. All entry/exit, kitchen or service door handles, POS machines, service counters, busing stations, service stations will be cleaned between shifts. Debit terminals will be cleaned each time they are used.

 

Our Enhanced Cleaning schedule:

    • Service counters and front door handles are wiped down in 30-minute intervals with approved sanitizers.
    • Our front of house staff will remove everything from the table after guests leave and clean the table completely.
    • Tables will be cleaned and sanitized before the next seating.
    • POS machines will be sanitized between patrons who must touch the number pad.
    • When staff switch positions, any shared equipment will be sanitized. This will include all repeated contact surfaces such as squirrel terminals, keyboards, POS machines, telephone, bar sinks, fridge handles, bar doorknob, sound system and light switches.
    • Staff should perform regular hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or sanitizing with alcohol based sanitizer following the official hand-washing guidelines. Hand-washing will be done:
  • Before and after breaks
  • After touching or cleaning tables any surfaces that may be contaminated
  • After sneezing, coughing or nose blowing
  • After touching your face or hair
  • After using the restroom
  • After touching personal phones
  • After using shared equipment such as computers, POS systems and debit terminals between different users
  • Servers sanitize their hands after touching any glassware or objects that have been touched by others.
  • All kitchen surfaces, equipment used and handles of all types will be sanitized at the end of shift following the product cleaning specs.

 

We are committed to adapting and changing as required.

Our supervisors are trained to monitor the workplace, engage with staff and ensure that COVID-19 policies and procedures are being followed and that any staff questions are being addressed in a timely manner. Issues that are brought forward that require input from our management or advice from WorkSafe BC will be addressed accordingly.

WorkSafe BC can be contacted at 1.888.621.7233 for Health and Safety Questions. To report a concern, WorkSafe BC’s confidential call line is 604.276.3000.

When issues are brought forward by our staff or our guests, and in the event of changes in the Public Health Order or WorkSafe BC recommendations, we are updating this document and changing the date on the cover page.

We have assigned a COVID-19 point person from our team and that person is also identified with contact information on the cover page.