AudioUK has published some guidelines for producers to safely work on productions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been prepared in consultation with the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) with input from audio professionals, content producers and broadcasters, the music industry, industry bodies, unions and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Download the guidelines here.

We have collated a series of four helpsheets to support organisations decision making about reopening.

• Ensuring your organisation is Covid Secure - things you will have to consider or change to be become Covid Secure before reopening
• Flowchart to aid reopening decision making
• Covid 19 Risk assessment - this is a basic template to start your thought processes about reopening
• Examples of Comms to share about reopening

Rob Watson developed a list of Tips for Creating a Safer Radio Studio - feel free to adapt as necessary:

• Gloves aren’t just for hospitals. They don’t prevent you from doing your job and they generally work with touchscreens.

• Bring your own headphones. Each person should wear their own headphones and not share them. They should also be wiped with an antiseptic cloth, or a damp soapy cloth. Dispose of the cloth after cleaning the headphones.

• Don’t touch the mic. Even in the healthiest of times, engineers say touching the microphone is a bad move. Don’t touch the mic, leave it where it is.

• Get a mic muff for each employee. The cost may be £20 per muff for standard mics, but the muff doesn’t need to be the exact model for the mic that’s in the studio. If in doubt use a clean sock that you can carry with you for your own use.

• Make sure there’s hand sanitizer in the studio, even if it means bringing your own.

• Wipe it down. While disinfecting wipes have suddenly become tough to find they are worth using. Wipe down the audio console, mic arms, headphone jack areas – the things you are going to touch – like the knobs and keyboards. If a sanitiser cloth isn’t available, use warm soapy water to dampen a paper cloth, then once you have wiped the surface dispose of it straight away. Special attention should be the headphone and speaker volume controls, as they are touched more than anything else in the room. Telephones should be wiped down regularly. Make sure that keyboards and mice are cleaned thoroughly.

• Don’t spray any touchscreens. Don’t use cleaning or disinfecting sprays on any studio equipment that has slots in them, such as an audio console with faders that move up and down. Instead, use a wipe so that stray fluid does not enter through the gaps in the console and damage the electronics. Alcohol-based wipes are fine for any surface that’s in a modern studio.

• If you’re sick, stay home. In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, experts are urging people who are not feeling well to self-quarantine as the only effective way to keep the coronavirus epidemic at bay.

• Take work home instead. A lot of presenters do their voice-tracking at the studio, but a lot of this can now be done at home. Find out what you need to purchase. Get a decent microphone or headset, a USB converter into your laptop.

• Practice good cough and sneeze etiquette. Cover your mouth when you cough, or sneeze. In a confined space like a radio studio that may be even more important. Place tissues in every room, in the studios, offices, lounges – and a rubbish bin.

• Try not to touch your face - this is where wearing a mask can help.

• Wash and sanitise your hands when the on-air shift is over.

• Insist on wearing masks where possible. Masks don't protect the wearer from the virus but may help to protect others from the possibility of droplet infection.

Adapted From: http://www.insideradio.com/free/tips-for-creating-a-safer-radio-studio-in-a-coronavirus/article_5d948476-6503-11ea-8b4e-5f577a0bce6d.html

Example risk assessment from Radio Ramadan, Leicester

The government has updated its guidance for people who are shielding taking into account that coronavirus COVID-19 infection rates have decreased significantly over the last few weeks. This guidance remains advisory.

We will endeavour to keep these pages updated as and when guidance and information changes.