COVID-19 Policies & Procedures
‼️ Please Read :: Update COVID-19 & Ultimate Barber Reopening
Dear Ultimate Barber valued clients and community,
Please know that as we prepare to reopen, our shop will follow the guidelines and recommendations from the Minnesota Board of Barbers Examiners and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Ultimate Barber will safely reopen for business on Thursday, June 4, 2020.
Here's what you need to know before we reopen:
Ultimate Barber is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all our barbers and clients. To ensure a safe and healthy workplace, we have developed the following COVID-19 policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only through this cooperative effort can we establish and maintain the safety and health of all persons in our workplaces.
Appointments are required. You can book your appointment by contacting your preferred Ultimate Barber directly. To keep occupancy low, at 25%, and physical (social) distancing high, walk-ins will only be accepted once their appointment time comes up after being added to the walk-in waitlist in the shop waiting area.
Service prices have increased from what they were pre-pandemic. The current fiscal environment, regulations, and policies drive higher prices to provide our Ultimate Barber clients with quality services. The new prices will take effect on June 4, 2020. Student and kid pricing is no longer available.
Physical (social) distancing of six (6) feet will be implemented and maintained through the following engineering and administrative protocols:
Barber stations are placed more than 6 feet apart as required by the Minnesota Board of Barber Examiners.
There will be fewer chairs in the waiting area to allow more space between clients waiting for their appointment. Chairs will be placed a minimum of 6 feet apart. If we are at capacity upon your arrival, you may be asked to wait in your vehicle or outside until your barber is ready to serve you or until a waiting chair is available.
Clients are required to wear face coverings unless unable to wear a face covering for medical reasons or physical ability. Using face coverings with loops around the ears is beneficial for hair services. See CDC Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19. The Ultimate Barbers will be wearing face masks and using gloves as necessary.
Clients must sanitize their hands upon arrival and departure. Please use the hand sanitizer in the waiting area. Ultimate Barbers are required to wash their hands before beginning any services.
Clients will be asked to complete a brief questionnaire upon entering the shop and sanitizing their hands. We will require basic information, such as your name, current telephone number, email address, date of service, and name of the barber.
Please come to your appointment alone. Accompanying family members or drivers may be asked to wait in their vehicles or outside to reduce waiting area congestion.
Sick clients will not be accepted. Do not come to the shop if, for any reason, you are not feeling well, or suspect that you may have one or more of the COVID-19 symptoms, or have been in contact with someone who is ill or displaying any of the symptoms, please get in touch with your barber immediately to cancel/reschedule your appointment. If your barber is not feeling well or showing flu-like symptoms, they must stay home from work until they are symptom-free. You will be promptly notified of your canceled appointment.
Your appointment may take up to an hour and a half to complete, so plan your day accordingly. Additional time is necessary to fulfill your appointment, as the Ultimate Barbers take increased safety measures, including fully sanitizing barber chairs, workstations, high-touch surface areas, products, and tools between appointments with hospital-grade disinfectants.
The bathroom is closed for public use. Please relieve yourself before coming to the shop for your appointment, as our bathroom will no longer be open to the public until further notice.
Please know that we are doing everything possible to keep you and our barbers safe, including performing deep after-hours cleaning, sanitizing, laundering, and enhancing barber education and safety training.
We look forward to welcoming you back to the shop! We are truly grateful for each of you, our clients and honored to be able to serve you.
All the best,
Dominique Dubb Wells
The Ultimate Barber Team
Preparedness Plan
Ultimate Barber is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all our workers and clients. To ensure 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 workplace and communities, which requires full cooperation among our workers, management, and clients. Only through this cooperative effort can we establish and maintain the safety and health of all persons in our workplace.
Management and workers are responsible for implementing and complying with all aspects of this COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.
The Ultimate Barbers have our full support in enforcing the provisions of this policy. We encourage our workers to ask questions, raise safety and health concerns, and offer suggestions for the plan and its implementation.
Our barbers and clients are our most valuable assets, and we are serious about their health and safety. Our barbers' involvement is essential in developing and implementing a successful COVID-19 Preparedness Plan. We have involved our barbers in this process by discussing their concerns and making sure they are aware of our new requirements and standards that must be met to operate safely during these difficult times. These steps helped us develop a plan to address all concerns and provide quality service to our clients. Our COVID-19 Preparedness Plan follows State of Minnesota Industry Guidance for our business, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines, federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards related to safety and health precautions required in response to COVID-19, and applicable executive orders.
The plan addresses the following:
Policies and procedures that assist in the identification of sick workers and ensure sick workers stay home
Implementation of engineering and administrative controls for social distancing
Worker hygiene and source controls
Workplace building and ventilation protocols
Workplace cleaning and disinfecting protocols
Drop-off, pick-up, and delivery practices and protocols
Communications, training, and supervision practices and protocols
What can clients do to minimize transmission
Additional protections and protocols for receiving and exchanging payment
Additional protections and protocols for managing occupancy
Additional protections and protocols to limit face-to-face interactions
Policies and procedures that assist in the identification of sick workers and ensure sick workers stay home
1. Policies and procedures that assist in the identification of sick workers and ensure sick workers stay home
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 before entering the workplace and for workers to report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms. All Barbers will be required to self-check before coming to work and inform management by call or text if they have any COVID-19 symptoms and be required to stay home and self-quarantine for 14 days. If any barbers develop symptoms while at work, they must go home and self-quarantine for 14 days or until they have been tested by health care professionals and deemed uninfected, whichever comes first.
All Barbers at Ultimate Barber are independent contractors responsible for their sick leave, Family Medical Leave. Workers with underlying medical conditions or household members with underlying health conditions can take leave as needed. Ultimate Barber has implemented a policy for informing workers that if they have been exposed to a person with COVID-19 at the workplace, they will be required to quarantine for 14-days or until they have been tested by healthcare professionals and deemed uninfected, whichever comes first. Also, a policy has been implemented to protect the privacy of workers’ health status and health information.
2. Social distancing – maintaining six (6)-feet of physical distancing
Social distancing of six feet will be implemented and maintained between workers in the workplace through the following engineering and administrative protocols: Barber stations are placed 6-feet apart as required by the Minnesota Board of Barber Examiners. All clients and barbers are required to wear face coverings. Barbers must also wear a face shield if a service can not be performed without the client removing their face covering. Clients will not be allowed to wait in the shop for service. They will be required to remain in the car or outside. Only clients that need to assist small children or someone with special needs will be allowed to wait inside the shop. However, barbers will not be 6 feet apart while providing a service to a client. These requirements will allow us to keep distance between clients and barbers and enable us to operate at 25% of our space capacity.
3. Worker hygiene and source controls
Worker hygiene and source controls are being implemented at our workplaces at all times. All barbers and clients will be required to wear face masks. All clients and barbers must use hand sanitizer or wash their hands upon entry. Barbers will wash their hands before and after each client. High-touch surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected frequently and daily. Barbers must also wear face shields when providing services requiring clients to remove their face covering. All books and magazines and books will no longer be available. Bathrooms will be closed to the public.
4. Workplace building and ventilation protocols
Reopening the workplace includes necessary sanitation, assessment, and maintenance of building systems, including water, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems. Our Water, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC system is maintained through our shop manager, who regularly checks and replaces filters and other maintenance needed.
5. Workplace cleaning and disinfection protocols
Regular housekeeping practices are being implemented, including routine sanitizing of the workplace and frequent sanitizing of high-touch areas. Barbers have been instructed that personal equipment and tools should not be shared and, if shared, should be disinfected between uses. All barbers are required to wash their hands, as well as clean, sanitize, and disinfect all tools and equipment in between each client. We will have a revolving schedule of cleaning all high-touch areas throughout each workday as needed.
Appropriate and effective cleaning and disinfectant supplies have been purchased and are available for use following product labels, safety data sheets, and manufacturer specifications and are being used with the required personal protective equipment for the product.
6. Drop-off, pick-up, and delivery practices and protocols
Any clients who would like to pick up products would call ahead to allow time to prepare the order at the door.
7. Communications, training, and supervision practices and protocols
This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan was emailed to all workers on 5/28/2020, and necessary training was provided. As things change during this pandemic, we will provide updated information and training to all barbers working in our establishment. Managers and supervisors monitor how effectively the program has been implemented by continuously evaluating how well these protocols work and sharing suggestions to implement when possible and necessary. Management and workers must work through this new program together and update the training as necessary. This COVID-19 Preparedness Plan has been certified by Ultimate Look LLC management and was posted throughout the workplace on 5/28/2020. It will be updated as necessary.
8. What customers and clients can do to minimize transmission of COVID-19
Stay home if sick.
Do not bring people not getting a service along for appointments.
Pay attention to signs with directions and protocol.
If client begins to feel unwell while in the shop, they should leave immediately and isolate themselves at home.
Review screening survey checklist for COVID-19.
Wash hands and sanitize regularly.
Do not touch anything unnecessarily.
Wear a face covering.
Wipe down all touched surfaces and dispose of wipe accordingly.
9. Additional protections and protocols for receiving and exchanging payment
1. Contactless payment will be used whenever possible. Ultimate Barber will utilize an electronic fund transfer service or credit-card payment method that allows the client to initiate and complete the payment transaction remotely or while separated from the worker.
2. When contactless payment is not possible, payment must be made in a manner that allows for at least 6 feet of distance between the barber and the client.
3. During check-in and check-out, the configuration at the payment stations and the space between the worker and the customer/client must allow for the physical distancing of at least 6 feet or a physical barrier installed.
4. Install barriers of sufficient dimension and appropriate material, e.g., plexiglass or taut heavy plastic curtains stretched and secured, as necessary, to protect workers at the check-in and check-out counter.
10. Additional protections and protocols for managing occupancy
Ultimate Barber will operate at 25% occupancy based on the Fire Marshall’s maximum capacity for our commercial space/building.
11. Additional protections and protocols to limit face-to-face interactions
Workers must always use a face covering when working with a client. See CDC Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19.
Clients are required to wear face coverings unless unable to wear a face covering for medical reasons or physical ability. Face coverings with loops around the ears are beneficial for hair- services.
Clients who refuse to wear a face covering where wearing a face covering is possible will not be serviced.
If the service being performed requires the removal of the client’s face-covering or the client cannot wear a face-covering, additional measures will be further implemented to protect both the barber and the client. The barber will wear a face-covering and face shield under these circumstances.
If a face-to-face interaction service cannot be performed with a face covering and face shield, services will not be performed.