COVID-19 Preparedness Plan for North Garden Theater
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North Garden Theater is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all our workers and customers.To ensure we have a safe and healthy workplace, we have developed the following COVID-19 Preparedness Plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers and workers are all responsible for implementing this plan. Our goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 in our workplaces and communities, and that requires full cooperation among our workers, management, and customers. Only through this cooperative effort can we establish and maintain the safety and health of our workers and workplaces. Management and workers are responsible for implementing and complying with all aspects of this COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. North Garden Theater managers and supervisors have our full support in enforcing the provisions of this policy. Our workers are our most important assets. We are serious about safety and health and keeping our workers working at North Garden Theater.
Worker involvement is essential in developing and implementing a successful COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. We have involved our workers in this process by directly interviewing our employees to collect and integrate feedback regarding our plan.
Our COVID-19 Preparedness Plan follows Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines, federal OSHA standards related to COVID-19 and Executive Order 20-48, and addresses:
• hygiene and respiratory etiquette;
• engineering and administrative controls for social distancing;
• cleaning, disinfecting, decontamination and ventilation;
• prompt identification and isolation of sick persons;
• communications and training that will be provided to managers and workers; and
• management and supervision necessary to ensure effective implementation of the plan.
• communications and instructions for customers.
Screening and policies for employees exhibiting signs and symptoms of COVID-19
Workers have been informed of and encouraged to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The following policies and procedures are being implemented to assess workers’ health status prior to entering the workplace and for workers to report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms.
Employees and staff of North Garden Theater will be asked to self health screen, be aware of symptoms of Covid-19, and be open to a dialogue regarding daily self screening and assessments. If employees are sick or experiencing symptoms while at home or at work, they should immediately contact North Garden Theater owners by phone or text. If employees experience sudden onset of symptoms while at work, they should send any customers out of the store, close down, and call/contact the owners immediately.
North Garden Theater has implemented leave policies that promote workers staying at home when they are sick, when household members are sick, or when required by a health care provider to isolate or quarantine themselves or a member of their household. Our payroll system allows us to set up a paid time off (PTO) policy for our employees. This can be used to calculate accruals and track the PTO balance for vacation and sick leave policies.
Accommodations for workers with underlying medical conditions or who have household members with underlying health conditions have been implemented. North Garden Theater will allow time off in accordance with our PTO Policy.
North Garden Theater has also implemented a policy for informing workers if they have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 at their workplace and requiring them to quarantine for the required amount of time. North Garden Theater will contact employees by phone, text, or email.
In addition, a policy has been implemented to protect the privacy of workers’ health status and health
information. North Garden Theater has only one employee and plans to keep all communications private.
Handwashing
Basic infection prevention measures are being implemented at our workplace at all times. Workers are instructed to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water frequently throughout the day, but especially at the beginning and end of their shift, prior to any mealtimes and after using the toilet. All customers and visitors to the workplace will be required to wash or sanitize their hands prior to or immediately upon entering the facility. Hand-sanitizer dispensers (that use sanitizers of greater than 60% alcohol) are at entrances and locations in the workplace so they can be used for hand hygiene in place of soap and water, as long as hands are not visibly soiled.
North Garden Theater will provide and maintain pump style hand sanitizer for employee and customer use. Hand soap, hand driers, and/or paper towels are provided in our bathroom area.
Respiratory etiquette: Cover your cough or sneeze
Workers, customers and visitors are being instructed to cover their mouth and nose with their sleeve or a tissue when coughing or sneezing and to avoid touching their face, in particular their mouth, nose and eyes, with their hands. They should dispose of tissues in provided trash receptacles and wash or sanitize their hands immediately afterward. Respiratory etiquette will be demonstrated on posters and supported by making tissues and trash receptacles available to all workers, customers and visitors. North Garden Theater will source, print, and post reminder signs.
Social distancing
No more than 60 guests will be allowed inside the North Garden Theater to ensure adequate social distancing. Social distancing of six feet will be implemented and maintained between workers, vendors, guests, and visitors in the space through the following engineering and administrative controls.
A plexiglass barrier has been installed at the bar encouraging patrons to stay back from the bartenders. Six foot markers have been installed on the floor to help keep individuals six feet apart from each other while waiting in line at the bar.
No more than four chairs are put at each table. Members of the same household (up to 6) may alter the chair plan to sit at a table together.
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Singers / performers are encouraged to perform with masks on. Unmasked performers should maintain a distance of 12 feet from the viewing audience area.
Changes regarding new policies surrounding Covid-19 will be communicated to our guests on our website (www.northgardentheater.com/covidplan), on social media and by customer e-mail.
Until further notice - everyone (employees and customers) will be asked to wear a mask upon entering North Garden Theater. While the NGT does have a supply of masks, employees and guests should supply their own mask.
Cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation
Regular housekeeping practices are being implemented, including routine cleaning and disinfecting of work surfaces, equipment, tools and machinery, delivery vehicles and areas in the work environment, including restrooms, break rooms, lunch rooms, meeting rooms, checkout stations, fitting rooms, and drop-off and pick-up locations. Frequent cleaning and disinfecting will be conducted in high-touch areas, such as phones, keyboards, touch screens, controls, door handles, railings, copy machines, credit card readers, delivery equipment, etc.
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Cleaning schedule and checklist will be posted and updated by North Garden Theater staff. Staff should use supplied cleaning products to disinfect high-touch areas. If a worker, customer, or visitor is syptomatic or is diagnosed with Covid-19, a deeper cleaning procedure will take place.
Appropriate and effective cleaning and disinfectant supplies have been purchased and are available for use in accordance with product labels, safety data sheets and manufacturer specifications and are being used with required personal protective equipment for the product.
The maximum amount of fresh air is being brought into the workplace and ventilation systems are being properly used and maintained. North Garden Theater HVAC systems utilize MERV-13 filters. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. For example, to achieve MERV-13, a filter has to catch 90% of particles in the 3-10 µm range, 85% of particles in the 1-3 µm range (where PM2. 5 is), and 50% of particles in the range 0.3-1 µm range.
Communications and training
This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan was communicated by e-mail to all workers [5/15/2020] and necessary training was provided. Additional communication and training will be ongoing. Instructions will be communicated to customers and visitors about: how drop-off, pick-up, delivery and in-store shopping will be conducted to ensure social distancing between the customers and workers; required hygiene practices; and recommendations that customers and visitors use face masks when dropping off, picking up, accepting delivery or in-store shopping. Customers and visitors will also be advised not to enter the workplace if they are experiencing symptoms or have contracted COVID-19.
This communication will be posted on our website, on our social media platforms and by customer email.
Managers and supervisors are to monitor how effective the program has been implemented by scheduling bi-weekly video chat meetings to happen on the 1st and 15th of every month throughout the Covid-19 crisis.
Management and workers are to work through this new program together and update the training as necessary. This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan has been certified by North Garden Theater management and was posted throughout the workplace [5/15/2020]. It will be updated as necessary.
Certified by:
Ryan North
CEO, North Garden Theater
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