What are workers' safety expectations during COVID-19?

Across New Zealand, Unite Union members working in fast food restaurants have submitted and published a list of expectations and recommendations for safe operating at Level 2 and beyond.

In particular, the workers developed a list of best practice policy and procedures that will contribute to the fight against COVID-19 based on their frontline perspective.

Despite the law saying that employers must consult with their workers on changes to health and safety practice, there has been no consultation with workers since the start of lockdown, according to Unite Union.

Workers expressed their frustration over company policy and procedures often being “just for show” during Level 3 with thousands of breaches occurring daily, especially social distancing inside kitchens and with customers at drive-throughs.

Unite Union National Secretary Gerard Hehir said that if McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Carls Jr and Burger King listened to their crew in the first place, we would have had a compliant system from day dot meaning better safety for workers and customers.

“Instead we had practices that defied commonsense and put everyone at an unacceptable level of risk.” said Hehir.

“If any customer or worker had Covid 19 in that first week of Level 3, any staff following the unsafe procedures could have become the virus’ next victims and the virus could have spread through restaurants like wildfire.”

As we seen in Australia at the moment, with 13 McDonalds restaurants closed due to infections, there is still significant risk, added Hehir. One of the worker recommendations is that deliveries between stores, the cause of most closures in Australia, is strictly limited.

“The revelation that MBIE recommended takeaways and deliveries should have operated at Level 4 in New Zealand during the lockdown is actually terrifying,” said Hehir.

“That would have been an unmitigated disaster and shows why worker’s input is so vital. We doubt that anyone at MBIE who made that recommendation had any knowledge or experience working in a fast food kitchen on a Friday night.”

Gary Cranston, Fast Food Lead Organiser for Auckland and Northland, said they are now developing a follow-up survey which will be conducted across the industry in order to identify which restaurants are not following best practice as identified by the worker’s themselves.

With the spike in cases in Australia partly caused by an outbreak of the virus in a McDonald’s and fast food workers in the U.S. striking over safety, workers are asking customers to help them enforce their best practice expectations in order to avoid a return to Level 4, or worse.

In New Zealand, Cranston said that after the obvious failures at the start of Level 3, most Fast Food companies are being very cautious about re-opening table service inside, so there is an opportunity to make sure full re-opening is done safely and properly.

The recommendations include:

• Procedures clearly communicated to customers at start of drive through journey and entrance to lobby.
• Additional paid sick leave so that sick employees can afford to be away from work when sick.
• Contact tracing for all customers.
• Delivery / pickup of stock should not be allowed between stores.
• Fixed shifts for all workers to reduce numbers of staff working together.
• All speed of service monitoring and alerts turned off.
• Reduced hours of service to customers to enable sufficient cleaning. 
• Zero tolerance of aggressive customers – immediate trespassing.
• Employees with health vulnerabilities or those living with people that have vulnerabilities allowed to stay home with full pay.
• Staggered breaks to avoid crowding in crew rooms.

Points of sale

• No cash payments.
• Perspex screens at all staffed points of sale.
• Self order kiosks must allow for distancing and kiosks cleaned after each use.
• Limit of one payment transaction per group of customers.
• No after-sale product swaps. No staff handling of returned items.
• Uniform, equipment, hygiene
• Employees allowed to wear their own jackets and not have to share any uniform items like aprons or protective equipment.
• Drive-Thru headsets effectively sanitised between users.
• Hypoallergenic soaps, gels, gloves and moisturiser freely available
• Workers experiencing irritation due to hand washing procedures taken off duties that require them with additional breaks given to workers to prevent skin irritations from excessive hand-washing.
• Air con systems well maintained, should not not re-circulate air and are vented to the outside as much as possible. If the workplace does not have an air conditioning system, open windows regularly to get fresh air circulating.

Drive-Thru

• Drive-Thru window and car window used as a barrier between customers and workers and 2m distance maintained.
• No delivering of orders to customers parked in cars.
• EFTPOS machines installed outside the Drive-Thru booth to eliminate all contact and maintain 2m distancing.

Lobby and dining area (if safe to open lobby at all)

• Staged reopening of lobbies and dining areas.
• Separate areas in lobby for takeaway customers / dine in customers.
• Customers to sit at an empty table while waiting for their order and no more customers in store at a time than can be seated separately.
• Only one point of entry to store for customers with professional security on door.
• Limits on numbers of customers allowed inside restaurants at any one time to allow for cleaning and distancing.
• Lobby should have a dedicated manager to oversee queuing, dining area hygiene and movement of customers.
• Extra staff rostered for sufficient cleaning of tables and chairs between guests.
• Playgrounds and gaming areas closed.
• Queuing markers on floors in lobby, (if queuing is safe / allowed at all)