We had a very productive meeting with organisers representing Hack/Makerspaces from across the UK and NI on Tuesday evening where we discussed ‘Reopening During a Pandemic’
One thing was agreed: the work needed to open is not trivial, and the guidance/regulation is unclear to the point of confusion
However: we heard great ideas and real world experience of the challenges, many of which apply equally to spaces such as ours across the country
The consensus is that we need clear official guidance so we can be sure we’re keeping everyone as safe as possible and also doing everything we need to to comply with legal requirements. It was noted that the UK national and regional governments have mostly relied on industries to develop their own strategies within govt guidance, so a reasonable approach would be for UK Hack/Makerspaces to take a similar approach: develop shared guidelines, seek approval for them, and roll them out as best practice. Some of the outputs from the meeting are being fed back directly to the group working on Scottish Govt guidance for creative spaces. We would like recognition of our particular status as volunteer-run groups at a very challenging time. We will reconvene in a couple of weeks to further this
Discussing on the ground practicalities: a major challenge was experienced as ‘members actually sticking to the rules/best practice’…which means we need to create systems that we can actually stick to over not just over the coming weeks, but possibly the best part of a year.
We will do our very best to comply with laws and regulations as we understand them, and reopening will be on a slow and experimental basis, but it will happen to some extent over the next week in the areas where it’s easy to facilitate: laser cutter and clean room use being low-hanging fruit (power tool use still has no-lone-working policy in place, and this presents logistical challenges, but let’s try it and see…and the question of in-person inductions…)
An important piece of guidance from the excellent Scottish Govt guide is this:
“Every workplace should look and feel substantially different”
We all need to be prepared for that
In the meantime…
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general planning it’s anticipated that we’ll make available 3-hour bookable slots for members. Booked at least 24 hours in advance, with a maximum number or sessions bookable per member per week (or maybe month). Members will book a particular area, and not have access to facilities in other areas except for the toilet and entering/exiting. This will limit activity and calls for a more detailed level of planning than usual. As you will imagine there’s a world of complexity beyond what sounds like a simple system – can I stay longer if no one books after me? etc… but to start with we’ll keep it crisp and clear with zero exceptions, so we can learn what works, and feedback experience into the model. Face covering will be mandatory while inside, and enhanced hygiene protocols will need to be adhered to. In the early stages occupancy of the Space will be kept low: possibly one member per workshop at first. We will also require members to swipe in and out of sessions, and may store a log in case of the need for contact tracing. Prior to your first session you will have a COVID induction either in person or online. As we’re dealing with a deadly disease here not adhering to the new systems will be treated as a serious matter
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Cleaning/sorting. Over the last fortnight @platinumnqueen22 has returned and got stuck into a big clean up ably assisted by shifts from @Julia and @Beccaartist. There is still much to do, so keep and eye out for calls to clean
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Moving socialising and breaks outside. Outdoor area has been cleared up so picnic table and bench are accessible again (no food or drink to be consumed within the workshop for during the first stage of reopening) – available tasks to do: 1, rub down and paint picnic bench (quick task) 2, build rain cover (intermediate task…it mustn’t fall down or blow away!), there’s plenty of timber available, plus budget for roofing materials. Further to this we can set up a refreshment and hand sanitiser station in this area
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prototyping reopening with the COVID-PPE crew + one fresh member. As we already have members working on PPE we have shared feedback and watched our behaviour. It’s clear that old habits die hard, and new habits are hard to breathe life into…we are constantly having to remind ourselves to stick to the new normals: distancing and room occupancy and mask wearing (and having the correct face covering for the situation = valved or cloth). Our urge to be social seems to be the point of weakness, and this is why we’re putting effort into the outdoor area. Also: a requirement to book 24 hours in advance for time bounded slots…when we’re used to just rolling up and making, takes some getting used to
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planning outdoor workspace. We want to set out at least two temporary covered workbenches outside. This will allow members to work in a fully ventilated space, and potentially facilitate group workshops and inductions in future, with the possibility of running some workshops for local community groups too
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air purifiers and ventilation. With the growing body of evidence for aerosol transmission of COVID-19 (that it can hang around in the air indoors for several hours and be breathed in) we want to go beyond the 2m/1m+ guidance and deploy HEPA air filters to all of the workshops, especially nwhere we can’t ensure safe ventilation levels. We have working prototypes of these already…one of which is tentatively called SAM (Sweet Air Machine). Air purifiers would scrub the air several times over between booked session. One approach might see two members sharing a workshop with an air purifier between them
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Risk Assessments one interpretation of the guidance is that RAs will need to be reviewed for every tool and activity in the Makerspace. This is not an inconsiderable task, but can be done in bitsized chunks. If you have experience in RAs and H&S and some time please make yourself known. In the meantime a universal COVID-19 RA will be tested against activities/tools to see how it stands up
