Irish Hairdressers Federation publishes Covid-19 guide with measures to reopen safely in Phase 3

The Irish Hairdressers Federation (IHF) has published guidelines that aim to allow hair salons to reopen safely in Phase 3 of the country’s road map on 29 June.

It plans to present the Covid-19 Reopening Guidance for Irish Hair Salons and Barber Shops to the Government this week.

The guidelines have been developed following engagement with the HSE and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), along with the assistance of Irish health and safety experts and input from four other trade associations in the hair and beauty sector: the Hair and Beauty Industry Confederation (Habic); Hairdressing Council of Ireland; Synergy Hair Group; and the Barber Society of Ireland.

The document, which is available to download on the IHF website, includes over 100 specific measures in ensuring salons and barbers are safe to reopen. Among the main recommendations are extensive use of PPE for stylists and customers; Covid-19 training for all staff; screening of customers when taking bookings; full sanitisation of work stations after each customer; salon visits and customer phone numbers recorded for contact tracing; and no magazines or reading material to be provided.

”Our guidelines go above and beyond the Government’s advice on what to do, and will enable hairdressers and barber shops to reopen safely in Phase 3 rather than Phase 4,” said IHF president Danielle Kennedy. “We have spent the past six weeks working with experts, the HSA and all parties in the hair and beauty sector to develop these guidelines. We have taken the advice of health and safety experts, microbiology experts, the HSE, the HSA and the WHO in preparing the document.

"This is an extremely safe and cautious set of guidelines. There are in-depth procedures on staff training, sanitisation, hand hygiene, social distancing, screening of clients and use of PPE. There are 25,000 people employed in our sector and we want to ensure they can come back to work safely. If we wait any longer to reopen, hundreds of small businesses will go bust and thousands of people will lose their jobs.”

The Government announced an acceleration of the road map last Friday, with many restrictions being lifted earlier than scheduled. However, the hair and beauty industry remains listed in Phase 4, meaning it won't reopen until 30 July.