Guidance for operating your mobile business safely
At present, mobile beauty therapists, nail techs, hairdressers and barbers are unable to work inside clients’ homes in Ireland, as current lockdown guidance does not allow us to enter the homes of others.
Whilst you cannot be 100% sure that clients have carried out your request, highlighting what you expect them to do will help to make them conscious of what hygiene protocols they should be carrying out.
Entering someone’s home to deliver a treatment or service presents different issues to working in a salon. In a salon, you can control the environment around you; a salon owner or salon based therapist or hairdresser will know the hygiene routine established to enable a salon to open safely. These procedures, outlined on pages 8 and 9, should be put in place to protect both employees and clients, as well as the wider public. However, when you enter someone’s home, you are not in control of their hygiene practices and so you need to ensure you protect yourself and others.
You will also need access to a sink to wash your hands prior to beginning your treatments and upon leaving. Follow government guidance of washing hands in soap and water for 20 seconds.
Make sure you allow enough time between appointments to perform all of your hygiene protocols.
Risk Assessment To keep you and your clients safe, perform a Risk Assessment of the situation so that you can address every risk concerned. The below information will help form part of your Risk Assessment. Once you have this, write a Health and Safety Statement (see page 7), and distribute this to all existing clients to reassure them as well as to clients booking appointments with you.
Client home hygiene Before entering a client’s home environment, you need to be clear what you expect from your client. Study the salon and spa health and hygiene protocols identified on page 9, such as disinfecting communal areas and the rooms you will be working in, and create a checklist to email to all clients upon booking along with your Health and Safety Statement, asking them to agree to comply. Ask clients to make sure they thoroughly clean anything that you may be required to touch upon arrival such as a gate, door handle, doorbell, handrail etc. A study published in the New England Medical Journal has shown that the COVID-19 virus can survive on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours. Explain that hygiene protocols in the room you are working in and any communal areas you have to pass through are imperative for you and your client’s safety, and that you are unable to visit their home and conduct any treatments unless they are willing to agree to comply.
Make your client aware that they are to be the only person that you come into contact with during your visit. Their children, partners or other household members should not be present in the room when you arrive or are working. If is up to you whether you choose to use a client’s toilet facilities should this aspect of lockdown be lifted; it’s a personal choice but you may wish to carry sanitising wipes to ensure the surfaces you touch are hygienic.
Your professional equipment & treatments Sterilise your equipment as you would normally using products such as Barbicide between client visits, and use disposable tools where possible. Do not share any tools between clients without sterilising them. There are currently no restrictions within ABT’s policy to require use of autoclaves. You are advised to follow good hygiene and all up to date government guidelines. ®
Do not let clients touch any of your products or tools, including samples. If you want to demonstrate a product, you should hold the product bottle yourself and distribute the product onto your client’s hand, or ask your supplier for sample sachets that you can wipe clean before handing to your clients. Any products that travel between client homes should be wiped clean with sanitiser before you visit your next client, such as product bottles and containers, in addition to your carrying equipment, trolly etc. Again, this is because the COVID-19 virus can live on hard surfaces for up 72 hours.
Your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) & workwear The PPE you require to use as mobile therapist or hairdresser is similar to that which salons should be using (see page 8), and is very important if you can’t control the hygiene of the environment you are working in. Always have plenty of hand sanitiser with you, and ensure your client sanitises their own hands prior to the
This information is advisory only and has been produced to assist members, it’s by no means exhaustive nor a set of rules that must be followed. You do not need to adhere to all the points within to be insured, quite simply – provided you are operating legally in line with Government and local authority guidelines, the policy will respond to allegations of negligence against the policyholder. The information is based upon opinion, expertise and public knowledge as of 1.6.2020; it has not been issued by the Irish Government (www.gov.ie). Please check the government website for the latest updates and ensure that you are complying with government guidance. This information does not constitute legal requirement. ABT do not incur any liability for this information.
10
