6 minute read
What ABT are Doing
How ABT is Supporting You
ABT Membership & Insurance
If your ABT membership – or insurance with another provider – is due for renewal, or has lapsed during lockdown, remember to renew it now. It’s imperative that you keep continual cover in place at this moment in time. Continuous coverage refers to having insurance coverage without any lapses. It is important as it may have legal ramifications if a claim is made against you or you need to make a claim. You should consider what your policy provides cover for, and choose a policy for Professional Liability, Public and Product Liability Insurance, which all ABT policies are. Even whilst your salon is closed, if you are still providing advice or instruction to any clients, even virtually (via online platforms such as Zoom etc), you will still have the need to protect you and your business against breach of your professional duty. Legal defence and damage payouts can be costly. If your policy includes insurance cover for loss, destruction and or damage to physical assets that you own and/or are responsible for then, a suitable policy should remain in force. The likelihood of a fire, flood, theft/vandalism etc still remains. Consider insurance requirements under any contracts you may have entered into for the leasing of equipment and/or property; you may be contractually bound to continue with insurance cover.
If you don’t currently have insurance, choose a policy that’s right for you, think about all the treatments you are qualified in, the treatments you are thinking about training in and don’t underestimate the amount of insurance cover you will need. Be aware of exclusions, claims excesses, patch test requirements and declarations agreed too as well as extra charges and endorsements. In addition, choose a policy that is ‘claims occurring’ wording to get long term protection. ABT policies include €6.5 million each of Professional Liability Insurance, Public Liability Insurance, Product Liability Insurance, and Medical Malpractice/Treatment Risk Insurance, and you can add new treatments to the policy as your skills grow.
3 months free insurance with ABT
To help with the current situation, ABT feels it is only right to offer three months’ free insurance to our members. This is as a gesture of goodwill from ABT as we are unable to freeze or hold insurance policies, and recognised the time you have been unable to work in a face-to-face environment. We hope this will help in getting businesses large and small back on the road to a thriving and insured industry with heighten standards that we have all been made aware of over this period. We will be sending out emails to all our members to notify you of how to avail of this one-off offer once trading and our industry is open again. If your policy renewal falls before this time, then we have been doing all we can by providing 12 Months’ insurance for the price of 10 months for those that use code 124TEN available via our website www.abtinsurance.ie. This has meant the difference between continual cover for businesses and no cover at all, and ABT will continue to do all we can to make sure our industry comes back stronger than before. If you would like to find out more about ABT Insurance please visit www.abtinsurance.ie, call us on 1800 625 180 from a landline or +44 1789 773434 from a mobile, Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm or live chat, email or messenger us and we will do our best answer your query as quickly as possible.
Guidance for re-opening your salon safely
Social distancing
In line with government guidance, social distancing should be maintained as much as practically possible; at present, a social distance of two metres is in force. Therefore, clients and staff should socially distance on arrival and departure, when moving through the salon and treatment areas. Naturally, closer contact is required for performing treatments, which is why other protocols, such as the use of PPE, are so important. Whilst social distancing guidance is in place, do not hug or embrace your clients or your staff. Staff should be reminded of social distancing protocols in staff rooms and kitchen areas as well.
Hand hygiene
On arrival at the salon, clients and staff should be directed to a sink to wash their hands; in line with government guidance, hands should be washed with soap and water for 20 seconds. Provide paper or disposable towels for drying hands. Alcohol-based (minimum 70%) hand sanitiser should also be available for use by staff and clients.
Clients or staff with COVID-19 symptoms
In line with government guidance, anyone displaying COVID-19 systems (see page 3) must self-isolate for at least seven days. If they live with someone displaying COVID-19 symptoms, they’ll usually need to self-isolate for 14 days. In both circumstances, neither staff nor clients should attend the salon.
You should make it clear to clients upon booking their appointment that if they or anyone they live with experiences any COVID-19 symptom, they must not come to the salon.
Under contact tracing systems, if a client who has visited you recently tests positive for COVID-19 and lists you and/or your staff as recent contacts, you will be contacted and instructed what to do next and any further action required. At the time of writing, advice is that individuals will be told to restrict your movements for 14 days from your last contact with the person who tested positive. COVID-19 and your insurance
If a client claims to have contracted COVID-19 during a visit to your salon, provided, as an ABT member, you (the policy holder) are operating legally in line with government and local authority guidelines, your insurance policy will respond to allegations of negligence against you, in the same way as for alleged injuries arising from treatment. The policy covers you against third party claims and allegations of negligently causing accidental bodily injury (which includes illness) in the course of your business. The onus will be on the claimant to prove you were negligent. Any claim will be individually judged by insurers and subject to the full policy terms and conditions. If someone makes an allegation or claim against you, report it immediately to ABT and follow the claims procedure. Balens and ABT will support you in the ‘normal way’ by getting all relevant information together for insurers. Do not admit liability and please refer to your policy document for full claims conditions. Please see the ABT website for full details and check your policy wording ‘ABT Terms of Business’ for full details.
Risk Assessments
Use the information below to highlight areas in your salon and business practice that might need addressing and special focus. This should look at the risks pertinent to clients as well as staff working in the salon.
Health and Safety Statement
Once you have carried out a risk assessment of your salon and working practices, create a Health and Safety Statement. This outlines what you will be doing to maintain the correct levels of health and safety in your salon, is a reminder for staff of the levels of compliance required and expected, and also reassures clients and staff that you are addressing the need for your salon to stay free of COVID-19. You can make your Health and Safety statement available via your website, and/or email a copy to clients on your mailing list. Remember also to distribute this to all members of staff.
Salon working hours & appointments
In order to minimise the number of people in the salon environment at any one time, stagger appointments. Leave enough time between each appointment for thorough cleaning of surfaces etc (see Salon Hygiene). To enable you to treat as many clients as possible, extend the working day. This also means that you can organise a rota for staff so that they maintain as many working hours as possible without all needing to be in the salon at the same time. Be aware that staff will need to agree to changes in working hours as per their Contract of Employment. Do not allow walk-in appointments, as pre-booking will enable you to control the number of people in the salon as well as ensure it is hygienically clean between clients entering.
