On Friday, November 27th, the Irish Government announced that the country will move to Level 3 on the Living with COVID-19 Plan with certain special measures from December 1st.
The graduated reopening will see retail and personal services reopening on Tuesday, December 1st. The hospitality sector set to reopen on Friday, December 4th.
Below, we outline how the move to Level 3 will impact employers across the country.
How will reopening guidelines be introduced?
Reopening guidelines will be introduced in two main phases that are relevant to the business sector:
From Tuesday, December 1st
- All hotels, retail, hairdressers, and gyms can reopen.
- Museums, galleries, libraries, and cinemas can reopen.
- Leisure centres and swimming pools may reopen for individual training.
From Friday, December 4th
- Restaurants and pubs that serve food can reopen subject to certain restrictions. Wet pubs can only serve takeaway drinks.
The Government has also issued the following advice:
- Public transport will be at 50% capacity.
- People should continue to work from home where possible.
- From a travel perspective, people will be asked to stay in their county until December 18th, save for essential journeys.
- The Government will also ask for more widespread mask wearing in busy areas, including the workplace, from December 1st.
How will the move to Level 3 impact your business?
The advice to maintain social distancing and wear face coverings in retail and services remains in place.
Employers outside these sectors are also now being asked to require staff in ‘busy areas’ to wear facemasks from December 1st.
Where possible, people should also continue to work from home and avoid public transport.
Coronavirus workplace issues
As we come to the end of the year where travel was severely restricted, many employers are having to deal with unused employee annual leave.
Health & safety has also been a much higher priority in the workplace as businesses seek to minimise the spread of coronavirus at work.
To ensure compliance by employers, the Health and Safety Authority has increased its activity. That means many business owners can expect to receive a call about a COVID-19 workplace inspection during the year ahead.
Need our help?
If you’re a Peninsula client, you can call our 24/7 helpline for instant, unlimited advice on all of your reopening HR and health & safety questions.
But if you’re not a client, you can still claim a free advice call with one of our HR or health safety experts today.
To speak to an expert now, call 0818 923 923.
