With the recent relaxation of lockdown here in the UK, media facilities are developing strategies to enable them to restart work from their facilities. Halo is one such facility and they have published their policies and guidance for staff and visitors as part of their plans to reopen their Soho offices. We have all the details…
In common with most UK post houses, Halo is currently working remotely with everyone working from home, but with the partial relaxation of some of the UK lockdown restrictions, Halo has put a plan together designed “to ensure everyone who visits Halo can do so with peace of mind.”
In a document created for clients, Halo says: “We should continue to do everything possible to work from home or remote locations. Where that is not possible, our aim is to provide the safest possible environment for everyone who needs to visit Halo’s sites.”
Halo’s COVID-19 response has been formulated by the company’s senior management team and managed by good friend of the blog, John Rogerson, Halo’s CEO.
Staff And Office Facilities
Halo is providing all their staff with COVID-19 safety training, ahead of them being able to return to work. We understand this will include the safe use of PPE (with Halo providing their staff with face-coverings); handwashing, surface cleaning, as well as advise on handling equipment and waste.
The company is putting in place an appropriate cleaning regime with regular ‘hired in’ daily cleaning services; high frequency ‘contact cleaning’ by an in-house cleaning team; and a specialist cleaning company for ‘deep-cleaning’.
In addition, they will be disinfecting surfaces and an acknowledgement that things like door handles, shared telephones, bannisters, handrails, keyboards, stationery, cutlery and crockery, lift buttons and doorbells all carry risks for cross-contamination.
Halo will also make sure paper towels are available for use in toilet facilities and bins will be emptied on each of the regular cleansing passes.
When it comes to specialist staff, each mixer, colourist and online editor will have a designated suite to work in to reduce cross-contamination and where possible, internal doors will be propped open to avoid the need to touch handles.
Support assistants will be required to limit their visits to the finishing suites and wherever possible offer support remotely.
Halo is also encouraging its staff to use the UK Government’s ‘track and trace’ app, once it’s launched. the company will also be monitoring and recording the temperature of all team members when they report for work each day.
Visitors
When it comes to visitors, all visitors entering Halo premises will be required to use the provided anti-viral hand gel and all visitors will be issued with a single-use disposable face-covering and no more than three visitors will be able to be in the reception area at any one time.
There will be a single route in and a single route out of reception so people are not crossing paths at doorways.
We understand that Halo would prefer that every visitor would also have their temperature taken, but they also acknowledge that they have no legal right to insist on this.
Visitors will be asked to limit their requests for refreshments to minimise runner movement around the facility. Visitors will also have to bring their own food and cutlery.
Want To Know More
They are the key areas, but if you would like to know more then you can access the full document from the Halo web site.
It is good to see a post house taking the time and care to put in place such a detailed plan. No one is under any misapprehension that this will eliminate transmission of COVID-19, but as we do with so many health and safety issues, it is all about assessing the risk and then putting in place measures that will minimise the risk to an acceptable level.
The wider media industry has joined forces to produce a blueprint for getting TV production up and running has been unveiled as the industry attempts to get back to business.
The Public Service Broadcaster’s like the BBC, ITV, ITN and Channel 4 along with Sky, and industry body Pact, have joined forces to produce a detailed document, broken down into six key areas, which is designed to enable indies to re-enter production…
Specifically consider people at higher risk of harm
Heighten precautions for everyone at work
Reduce the number of people involved
Consider editorial ‘on camera’ requirements
Consider mental health and wellbeing
Feedback loop
Entitled TV Production Guidance: Managing the Risk of Covid-19 in Production Making, it provides suggestions for producers across travel, location, film and safety equipment, working patterns, rest areas and mental health.
It has been designed to complement the high-end TV guidelines set out by the British Film Commission. To request the full consultation documents email the BFC.
MPG Advice
Moving onto the music production side, the Music Producers Guild has published a guide on the MPG website designed to be a summary of the points we feel are most relevant to recording studios based on the current government advice, which is likely to change over time. We recognise it is likely that not all of the measures will apply to everyone, and the physical size of many studio spaces will make some measures impossible to implement. It should be used as a guide ONLY, and anyone in charge of a facility or employing staff should familiarise themselves with the full UK government guidelines available here.
Points covered include - travel to and from the studio, managing risk, social distancing, hygiene, deliveries and collections, PPE / Face coverings, bookings policies and cancellations.
You Decide
Overall there is a lot of advice there. We recommend you read it, take advantage of the help provided and then make your own decisions about what is right for you in your situation.