Co-creating a post-lockdown live event protocol

How to repair in your community Coronavirus
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Great idea Frank!

While it seems unlikely that in-person events will be able to resume for a little while yet, I agree it makes sense to start thinking about how events might need to be adapted to prioritise safety and comply with local/national health measures. Count me in for this conversation :+1:

Given that health advice and regulations are bound to differ from place to place and change over time, we’d likely need to come up with a number of protocols. Instead, I wonder whether it might be easier to build a ‘menu’ of strategies to reduce the risk of transmission at events. This ‘menu’ could then provide groups in places with different needs and requirements a way to quickly put together event plans appropriate to their local situations.

Perhaps we could use a wiki post in this topic that everyone can edit and contribute to?

What do you reckon?

:memo: Edit: below is the ‘menu’ we’ve come up with in this topic so far…

Ways to make in-person events safer

Below is a crowd-sourced list of potential measures that event organisers can take when thinking about how to resume in-person repair events. This list is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive - feel free to pick and choose based on your requirements and local rules. You can also add your own suggestions by clicking the Edit button at the bottom of the post.

:warning: When deciding whether/how to resume in-person events you will need to follow the rules set out by your local or national authority. Be sure to familiarise yourself with these first!

Planning in-person events

  • Reduce the size of events and run them more often (e.g. you could split them into type of repair: electrical only, bicycles and textiles only etc.)
  • Work with a reservation system (use an online tool such as Calendly or phone reservations) to give participants a time slot and ensure you can control the number of people who show up.
  • Ask volunteers to RSVP in advance and only offer a limited number of spaces.
  • Is it possible to run your event outside?

During in-person events

  • Signage at the entrance outlining the measures in place and asking visitors not to enter if they have listed covid-19 symptoms (based on NHS guidance & wording in the UK).
  • One-way system for entrance & exit
  • Leave doors open as much as possible (meaning “high touch” surfaces such as door handles will not be used).
  • Set up a spacious waiting area that allows participants to maintain social distancing. If there isn’t enough room to allow social distancing, remove the waiting area entirely.
  • Make sure that there are 2 meters of distance between all repairers and visitors at all times. Place repair tables far apart and where possible, place boundaries on the ground.
  • Ask volunteers to keep an eye on whether the distance is respected by everyone and speak to people if necessary
  • Enforce a maximum number of people per table policy to keep numbers low and maintain social distancing
  • If you cannot guarantee the safe distance, you can place partitions between repairers, and between repairers and participants.
  • Don’t provide refreshments. Volunteers can provide their own.
  • Ask participants and repairers to disinfect their hands. Provide disinfectant gel with at least 70% alcohol and make sure there are enough bottles of disinfectant, for example 1 at the entrance, 1 in the toilets and 1 per repair table.
  • Ask participants and repairers to wear a face mask. Or provide plastic faceshields for repairers.
  • Decontaminate all objects brought in first. If this is not possible (e.g. textiles), you can also leave the objects in place for 72 hours before they are repaired. And again 72h before they are picked up again.
  • Avoid sharing objects and thoroughly clean/disinfect any shared tools. Repairers should ideally only use their own tools.
  • Leave cash donations untouched for 4 days.
  • Provide contactless donation option if possible.
  • Is contact tracing required in your area? (e.g. NHS test & trace in the UK) - how can you manage this?

Between in-person events

  • Many of your volunteers and wider community may not want to return to in-person events yet. This is fine. How can you keep the rest of the community engaged?
  • In your communications, be sensitive to the fact that not everyone will feel comfortable coming to in-person events
  • Don’t pressure volunteers to attend in-person events
  • Maintain an active online presence and where possible, maintain any additional online activity you’ve started since lockdown began.

:memo: Got more suggestions? Click the ‘Edit’ button at the bottom of this post to add to this list

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