The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has formally established a Safety and Hygiene Subcommittee to ensure the business events industry is ready to safely restart and that government and the public can be confident that restrictions can be lifted.

Aim

BECA recognises that an opportunity exists to secure a restart of the industry much sooner than the allowances that will need to be made for mass gatherings. Because business events are an extension of the workplace and delivered in a controlled environment, organisers, personnel and attendees are able to take steps that will minimise the health risks from COVID-19. Importantly, this includes that all persons related to a business event are fully contactable and traceable.

Principle

As the Government moves to lift restrictions, BECA and its Safety and Hygiene Subcommittee seeks to work closely with officials to ensure a robust and sustainable distinction can be made between mass gatherings and gatherings of people in controlled settings. The development of COVIDSafe Guidelines for Business Events will underpin this distinction and allow for the restart of business events and the reinvigoration of the businesses, industry groups and associations that rely on business events for their own success, as soon as possible.

Guideline development

The Guidelines will focus on five key areas, providing advice on managing a business event during the planning phase, the event itself and following the event. When complete, they are to be considered, adapted and implemented by industry stakeholders, and will be updated as health advice develops (using the main sources of Government information including from the Department of Health and Safe Work Australia) and the industry gains experience in best-practice safety and hygiene regimes as knowledge continues to develop about the virus and its characteristics.

The Guidelines will:

Ensure personnel and personal safety

  • Manage the use of hygiene products and materials (e.g. masks, hand sanitiser)

Enable physical distancing

  • Provide barriers, markings and flow directions in all public spaces
  • Ensure sufficient size venues to meet government requirements for space/person

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

Implement maximum gathering control

  • Adapt systems and processes including for registrations, catering, crowd flow
  • Manage number of attendees

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