Mala McAlpin A momentous occasion for NSW and Victorian beauty business owners yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday, Sunday May 24, was an incredibly joyous day for those across NSW and Victoria as both states received the news that they could reopen beauty businesses in one short week.
For the past several weeks, the beauty and aesthetic community has been petitioning their respective governments and local councils to allow beauty businesses to reopen, particularly while hairdressers have been permitted to continue operating. Seemingly, the overwhelming amount of feedback paid off, with NSW health minister Brad Hazzard saying “Of all the requests that I’ve had in the last three months, this has topped the barrel.” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian also reported receiving a similar amount of pressure, admitting “It’s fair to say I’ve been lobbied by half (of) the population.”
Here are the official state rules when it comes to beauty, spa and aesthetic services:
NSW
Businesses must develop a COVID-19 safety plan that addresses how to minimise risk from COVID-19. Safety plans will include measures such as:
- One person per 4 square metres including both staff and clients, up to a maximum of 10 clients at any one time
- Exclusion of staff and clients who are unwell, even if they have only mild symptoms
- Records of attendance on the business premises for all staff, clients and contractors
- Removal of books, magazines and iPads from waiting areas to reduce the potential for infection of clients
- Seating in waiting areas that complies with physical distancing
- Ensuring good hand hygiene facilities are available, including at venue entry and exit, and promoting excellent hand hygiene by staff
- Clearly displayed conditions of entry on their entrance, website and social media platforms
- Designating a staff member whose responsibilities include ensuring staff and clients have appropriate physical distancing and that the venue does not exceed the maximum capacity limit and measures to maximise distancing between staff where safe and practical, including assigning staff to specific work stations that are at least 1.5 metres apart and minimising any interaction between these stations
- Encouraging download of the COVID-safe app
Businesses covered include beauty, nail, waxing and tanning salons. Once beauty salons are open, any services that normally and legally take place in a beauty salon will be able to be undertaken. Any existing rules and regulations will continue to apply.
Source: Nsw.gov.au
Victoria
Beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons, spas, tattoo parlours and massage parlours can open for services from June 1 with up to 20 patrons. All client information also must be recorded when accepting bookings. No further specifics around checklists or specific treatments have been released.
Source: Vic.gov.au
On the whole, it seems beauty, spa and aesthetic businesses have received huge amounts of support and eagerness from clients desperate to get back in for their regular treatments – indeed, Kristin Fisher reported on social media last night a whopping 1500+ appointments that came through her online booking system in just one afternoon. If you’ve received similar responses, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
