The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has delivered a set of safety and hygiene procedures to Government—The COVIDSafe Guidelines for Business Events—to demonstrate that business events are different to other ‘mass gatherings’ and should open as soon as possible.
The Guidelines are a key document that outlines how Event Organisers and the broader industry can keep their events safe and hygienic.
BECA said the document will help prove to officials that business events are different from ‘mass gatherings’ and other public events, and should open sooner.
“Clear industry guidelines for hygiene and safety will provide Government with the confidence to lift restrictions and for organisers to rebook and hold events as soon as possible,” BECA Chair, Dr Vanessa Findlay said.
Focus on five key areas
The Guidelines will give advice on managing a COVID-safe business event from start to finish, by focusing on five key areas:
1. Ensure personnel and personal safety
- Manage the use of hygiene products and materials (e.g. masks, hand sanitiser)
2. Enable physical distancing
- Provide barriers, markings and flow directions in all public spaces
- Ensure sufficient size venues to meet government requirements for space/person
3. Increase health and safety measures
- COVID training for all business events personnel
- Manage access controls, registrations and contact details for all event personnel and attendees
- Health screenings
- Initial deep-clean of venues and equipment
- Enhanced regular cleaning- before, during and after an event
- Sanitation stations – easily accessible and mandatorily used
- Ensure best-practice ventilation
- No-touch policies
4. Implement maximum gathering controls
- Adapt systems and processes including for registrations, catering, crowd flow
- Manage number of attendees
5. Encourage and enforce measures
- Display measures and sanitation requirements
- Ensure role and routine clarity for all business events personnel, including on-the-day point of contact for managing issues and concerns
- Medical facilities onsite
- Monitor real-time movement of people and have mechanisms in place for corrective action
Taking it to the states
Dr Findlay has also confirmed that BECA is engaging state and territory governments to help ensure a consistent response across jurisdictions.
“We’re also working with individual State and Territory jurisdictions to ensure clarity and consistency across the country so that delegates can travel interstate to attend business events,” Dr Findlay said.
