BY JARROD MELMETH
A Newcastle salon owner is calling for a common sense approach to be applied by the NSW government in its decision to place a cap on hair and beauty services once the state reopens.
Under the state governments roadmap released almost two weeks ago, personal service such as hairdressers and nail salons can open with one person per 4sqm, capped at five clients per premises.
In comparison, other venues including hospitality, retail and gyms are allowed to open with just the square metre rule and do not have any caps imposed upon them.
Managing Director of Suki Hairdressing Sandy Chong says this measure will not help control COVID transmission within hair and beauty venues in any meaningful way.
“Where a salon or premises is large enough, these venues can safely and effectively operate under the four square metre rule without the conditional cap of five people.
"These restrictions are also completely inconsistent with other industries such as fitness and hospitality, which bear similar, if not greater risks of transmission, and will be able to operate without such a restrictive cap.
“We believe the hair and beauty industry can and should be allowed to operate with one person for each four-square metre, along with sensible precautions including compulsory QR code check-ins, client screenings, cleaning of stations, the use of screens and protective glasses where appropriate as well as the use of masks and gloves for staff for the rest of the year," Ms Chong said.
There is also some concern around the caps having impact on the industries apprentices. Ms Chong says under the current arrangement, she would have to choose who can work and who can't.
"So where do we put apprentices? Because obviously we are going to have to employ or give the hours to those who can be productive. We can't have four staff on the floor that are senior stylists and have four apprentices doing other jobs. This is not at all fair to our apprentices," Ms Cong said.
