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MTA Guide for working at ALERT LEVEL 3

This is the information provided by MTA and forms the basis for BAYRIDE MOTORCYCLES plan.

Acknowledgment to MTA for the comprehensive and active work they have produced for MTA members during the COVID-19 crisis period.

GUIDANCE FOR OPERATING AT ALERT LEVEL 3 

COVID-19 Alert Level 3 is not business as usual or a return to “normal”. It is a slightly less restricted version of Alert Level 4. See this document for more information on Alert descriptions plus please refer to our main Covid-19 Information for Members page for further information prior to Alert Level 3.

Moving to Level 3 is not a blank slate for businesses to resume “normal” operations. No-one wants to be “that business” that relaxed hygiene protocols and led the country back to Level 4.

The Golden Rules for businesses at Alert Level 3 (from the Government’s Covid-19 website):

  1. If your business requires close physical contact it can’t operate.
  2. Your staff should work from home if they can.
  3. Customers cannot come onto your premises - unless you are a supermarket, dairy, petrol station, pharmacy or permitted health service.
  4. Your business must be contactless. Your customers can pay online, over the phone or in a contactless way. Delivery or pick-up must also be contactless.
  5. Basic hygiene measures must be maintained – that means physical distancing, hand washing and regularly cleaning surfaces. Workers must stay home if they are sick, or if anyone in their ‘bubble’ becomes sick with suspect flu-like systems (cough, cold, sore throat, headaches).
  6. If you used PPE in your business before Covid-19, then keep using it in the same way. If you didn’t use PPE in your business before Covid-19, you don’t need it now. Visit health.govt.nz for more advice.
  7. You must meet all other health and safety obligations.

Other key principles:

  • Everyone must still work from home wherever possible
  • Workplaces can reopen if: the work cannot be done from home, and the workplace can operate safely in line with public health guidance.
  • Essential services may have contact with the public but minimise this as much as possible
  • Social distancing remains important: 2m from customers (only if you have to engage with them) and 1m from co-workers
  • You must create and display a Covid-19 safe work plan
  • Consult with staff when developing this plan
  • Think about how restrictions impact existing H&S practices
  • Record workplace interactions – who works with who; did you speak to customers (who?)
  • Make the Covid-19 safe work plan available to staff, suppliers, and customers
  • Customers, suppliers and staff, need to understand how your site operates under Alert Level 3.

Other information:

  • Private travel is still restricted to “essential purposes” (e.g. shopping, healthcare, accessing local businesses, etc), so customers will still be scarce
  • “Essential” – service stations and automotive businesses supporting essential purposes
  • A private person seeking repairs to a private vehicle used for essential purposes is considered essential
  • A private person seeking to purchase a private vehicle to use for essential purposes is considered essential
  • A test drive is not considered essential
  • WorkSafe will be visiting workplaces to audit Covid-19 safe work plans. 

PREPARE – make plans, talk to staff, and obtain supplies before opening

OPERATE – stick to your plan and follow the simple principles of restrict contact, clean everything, track & trace

Before you open

If you do plan to reopen here’s a checklist of things you need to think about. The list applies to ALL sectors.

Setting up your workplace to open on Tuesday 28 April

From Tuesday 21 April 2020 you can:  

  • Go into your workplace to start setting up for Tuesday 28 April 2020. Remember you cannot trade before then and must keep your shop front closed.
  • Organise your suppliers/stock and buy anything you need (see below).

Complete and display a Covid-19 safe workplace plan

Think about:

  • Consulting with staff when developing this plan.
  • How restrictions may impact existing H&S practices.
  • How you will look after your customers and suppliers?
  • How you will manage staff?
    • How many customers do you expect (considering travel restrictions).
    • Will you need all your workforce?
    • Can some (office staff) work from home?

We’ve developed a Safe Workplace Plan template to assist you >> Here is an example of a Safe Workplace Plan >>

Complete your risk assessment (health & safety)

  • Review your business operations and do a risk assessment.
  • Make a plan for how each part of your operation can be performed safely: If you can’t find a safe, hygienic way to do something, you should not do it. Returning to 100% of operations will not always be possible.

More detailed information on completing a Risk Assessment is available further down this page.

Think about how to manage your staff

Before staff come into work on day one, each staff member must complete the Covid-19 Declaration Form.

  • Get them all on a conference call using something like Zoom (so you only need to have one conversation)
  • Share your re-opening plans and what that means for them. Get their feedback. This includes things like:
    • Rostering on to work (split shifts, reduced hours, etc).
    • Inducting them on the new Covid-19 safe work plan.
    • Allocating tasks that may be outside their usual scope of work (e.g. office administrative tasks, workplace cleaning, etc).

A Covid-19 Health and Safety Checklist is available here >>

Posters

Some key posters:

Wash your hands poster - place in toilets and meal room

Protect yourself and others poster – place in meal room, reception and staff notice boards 

Stop - keep you and others safe poster – display on exterior of office/entrance door

Contact register

Get a copy of the MTA Contact Register. Use this to keep track of staff, suppliers and contractors that work within your business.

Suppliers

  • Identify all: parts; cleaning equipment and PPE; courier; other businesses you trade with etc
  • Let them know you’re planning to re-open from Tuesday 28 April 2020 (or other date after that) and procedures you have in place to be safe.

Contractors

  • Let them know you’re planning to re-open from Tuesday 28 April 2020 (or other date after that)
  • Before they come into your workplace they must complete the Covid-19 Declaration Form.

Customers

  • Tell them (email; phone etc) you are re-opening for business and how things will work
  • Send them a copy of your “Safe Work Plan”.

Personal protection equipment (PPE) and cleaning products

Get supplies in ASAP. This may include, but is not limited, to the following items:

  • Mop and bucket
  • Liquid soap
  • Disinfectant
  • Wipes
  • Rubbish bags
  • Hand sanitiser, gloves, disposable seat covers for repairers.

Places you can buy from:

Before cleaning vehicles. Read all product instructions and test the cleaning agent on a small piece of the vehicle first.

Getting paid by customers

The two options below meet the requirement to avoid face-to-face contact with your customer. This means your customer does not have to physically touch your EFTPOS machine. The first option “MOTO” lets you take your customer’s debit/credit details over the phone and manually enter these into your EFTPOS terminal yourself. The second sends the money direct from your customer’s bank account to yours.

Set up “MOTO” on your EFTPOS terminal/s

MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) allows you and your staff to enter your customer’s credit / debit card number into your EFTPOS terminal over the phone (to avoid all contact). Find out more here >>

Step 1: Contact your bank

  • Call your bank’s Merchant Services team (see numbers below)
    • ASB: 0800 803 804
    • ANZ: 0800 473 453 / nzmerchantbusiness@anz.com
    • BNZ: 0800 737 774
    • Heartland Bank: 0800 80 91 91
    • Kiwibank: 0800 601 601
    • Westpac: 0800 888 066.
  • Ask them if you have “MOTO” on your merchant account
  • If you DO NOT have it, ask them to turn it on
  • Ask them the date this will be done by.

Step 2: Contact your EFTPOS provider

  • Let them know your bank has allowed you to setup “MOTO”
  • Ask them the date this will be done by
  • Some provider contact details:
    • EFTPOS NZ: 0800 EFTPOS (0800 338 767, option 4),
    • EFTCO: 0800 180 180,
    • SMARTPAY: 0800 476 278,
    • POSMATE: 0800 POS MATE (767 6283).
Online banking
  • Have your bank account and reference details ready for your customer (customer name; customer number; invoice number, etc)
  • Banks in NZ send payments to each other at least once every hour Monday to Friday from about 9am to 11pm on business days only
  • If your bank is the same as your customer’s bank, then you will receive the money immediately when they send it to you
  • When you have completed the work for your customer:
    • Ask your customer to pay their bill by internet banking
    • Ask them whom they bank with (this is good to know because if their bank is the same as yours, when they send their payment to you will see it immediately in your bank account).
    • Ask them to send you a screen shot/copy of the confirmation they will get on their screen to show the payment has been made to you. Check to see they have got your bank account number correct
    • Arrange a pick-up time:
      • If your customer banks with a different bank to you: make pickup time about two hours after they say they have sent the payment. By this time, you should see the payment in your bank account
      • If your customer has the same bank as you, set an early pick up (as your money will arrive immediately into your account when they send it)
  • If for any reason a payment isn’t processed that day, get your customer to check with their bank to ensure the payment has been made to you. Do not accept the line “I sent it to you, there must be something wrong at your end”.

Other useful sites to check before you open up

Risk assessments

Purpose

This guidance is designed to help MTA members work through a risk assessment of their own premises and operations to help them establish safe operating procedures during Covid-19 Alert Level 3. It applies to ALL sectors.

Note: This guidance and the accompanying template are provided as general guidance on how a business might undertake a risk assessment with respect to operating under Covid-19 Alert Level 3. MTA is not responsible for the assessment completed by any person who uses this information. Business owners are obliged to properly conduct health and safety assessments of their own specific workplace.

Assumption

A risk assessment usually asks you to consider how likely something is to happen, and the consequences of that happening. For all the operational matters below, businesses should assume:

  • Likelihood – act as though everyone (workers, customers, suppliers) may be infected.
  • Consequence – serious health problems, including potential death Workplace operations must include mitigations or protections that seek to eliminate this potential harm or reduce its impact.

Elements of the assessment

Covid Hazard – this refers to the area of operation and how it might be affected by Covid-19. For example: workplace surfaces that are touched regularly by staff, suppliers, or customers; interactions, such as workers, customers, and suppliers. Who is affected – identify who is affected by this hazard. Control measure – what can you do to minimise or eliminate the hazard? For example – workers maintain 1m distance, use of PPE, how do customers drop their vehicles off, etc. How monitored – how will you ensure that the control measure is in place (e.g registers being completed, etc). Responsibility – while ultimate responsibility rests with the PCBU, who within the business should own this control measure or hazard?

Risk Assessment Template

We have developed a template Risk Assessment form to assist you.

Here is an example of how the form could be completed >>

Level 3 safe operating guidelines

Repairers

Repairers can operate like they have been in Alert Level 4 but are now able to work on vehicles for non-essential workers and on non-essential vehicles. This includes carrying out Warrant of Fitness inspections, maintenance and routine servicing.

It is the decision of individual businesses to determine if they can operate safely.

Note: There is a lot of cross over between keeping staff and customers safe, if you keep one safe then you will be keeping the other safe.

Staff

  • Maintain hygiene protocols – regular cleaning of common surfaces, floors, door handles, phones etc.
  • Where possible install Perspex screens on counters to keep separation between staff and customers.
  • Physical distancing to be maintained: 2m with customers, 1m with other staff.
  • Where possible use every second work bay or run different shifts to ensure there is enough distance between staff.
  • Staggered break times.
  • Shared tools and equipment to be cleaned down after use.
  • Recording of all people who have been in contact with the vehicle i.e. groomer, service advisor and technician (can be done on the job card).
  • Vehicle to be cleaned before any work commences and once work is complete.
  • Maintain a log of staff on site, arrival and departure times.
  • Use disposable seat covers and floor mats.
  • Disposable overalls (coveralls) and gloves to be used when moving vehicles around.
  • Work clothes to be washed in a hot wash every day.

Customers

  • Check before you accept their car by email or phone. Ask them if they have:
    • Travelled overseas in the last 14 days?
    • Had close contact with someone who has travelled overseas 14 days?
    • Had close contact with someone in self isolation?
    • Had flu like symptoms e. coughing, sneezing or difficulty breathing, high temperature?
    • If someone is not well, request they do not come to the site.
  • Operate a booking system to stagger the arrival and departure of customers. When customers make a booking advise a time that they can drop the vehicle off, stagger the drop of times by 15 minutes. The same goes for pick up times.
  • For example:
    • Drop off times 8am, 8.15am, 8.30am, 8.45am etc.
    • Pick up times: 3pm, 3.15pm, 3.30pm, 3.45pm etc.
  • Vehicle drop off:
    • Set up a well-marked designated drop off point (use road cones etc.)
    • 1 person appointed to staff this role to restrict the risk of transmission
    • Customers must not enter premises
    • Maintain a daily log at reception of all customers, visitors and also vehicles for repair that enter the site
    • Full customer details and vehicle details on invoices so people and vehicles can be traced. No more invoices for “Cash Sale”
  • Vehicles to be cleaned before being given back to customers. Use disposable sanitiser wipes and wipe over all high touch surfaces as well as surfaces likely to come into contact with staff during repair:
    • Steering wheel
    • Dash
    • Armrests
    • Console
    • Seat adjusters
    • Gear shifter
    • Rear vision mirror
    • Cupholders
    • Doors
    • Handles, etc
  • Keys to put into a container and wiped down before handling.
  • Place a “Valet Card” in the vehicle if you wish.

Contractors/suppliers

  • Designated drop off area where they do not come into physical contact with staff.
  • Order parts online or over the phone.
  • Maintain social distancing.
  • Company reps, insurance assessors or contractors may visit site to carry out work but must complete Contact register and comply with your business action plans.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

  • MTA members can obtain items such as disposable seat covers and coveralls through the ECOS shop
  • Repco also has a wealth of PPE and cleaning equipment available; they can be ordered online or via telephone.

Service Stations

Service stations can continue operation as they were under Level 4 conditions. The only change being is that convenience stores can now include the sale of coffee, but customers cannot consume food or drinks on site (signage or barriers required to manage this).

Staff

  • Ensure staff interaction with other staff is controlled i.e. 1m separation, Perspex screens at POS terminal.
  • Consider assigning specific tasks to individual staff members and roster appropriately.
  • Manage shifts to ensure staff maintain required separation when working i.e. staggered lunch breaks etc.
  • Contact tracing for staff is required (you need to know who is working each day, when they start and finish).

Customers

  • Continue with “one in, one out” practice for customers c-store or use modified night pay facility where practical.
  • Coffee is able to be prepared and sold but customers cannot consume on site, so if you have a cafe style set up in the c-store, these areas will still need to be closed.
  • Operate pumps on pre-pay if possible or use night pay operating procedure to manage interaction with customers (you might need more controls as a result of more customers due to Alert level 3 (i.e. 2m separation distance, install Perspex sneeze guards).
  • It might be worthwhile placing floor markings to advise customers where to stand when making payment.

Contractors / suppliers

  • Ensure all goods and service suppliers (contractors) sign in when arriving on site (record name, contact phone, company details) to ensure effective contact tracing can be carried out if needed. insert link to contact tracing form.
  • Review delivery processes to minimise contact between staff and contractors, establish designated drop off areas.
  • Think about how contact tracing might be implemented for customers if required (more information to be supplied).
  • Think about your interaction with fuel delivery tanker and how to minimise risk of infection transmission.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) / Infection control

  • With more customers you might need to increase staffing levels so will need to put in place effective staff separation rules (2m or 1m with masks, split shifts, staggered meal breaks etc).
  • Maintain hygiene protocols currently in place i.e. cleaning pumps, POS terminals, door handles, toilets and staff lunchrooms etc (this might need to be enhanced with more customers coming in as a result of Alert Level 3).
  • Make sure all cleaning materials (wipes) are disposed of correctly, sealed in bags and placed in rubbish promptly.
  • If you provide staff uniforms, it would be advisable to have staff change into their own clothes at the end of the day and have uniforms commercially cleaned to minimise risk of virus spread.

Dealers

It is the decision of individual dealer businesses to determine if they can operate safely. These guidelines are to assist MTA Members in the development of their site-specific plans.

Staff

  • Maintain separation protocols – 1m between staff members, 2m between staff and customers.
  • Collect “track and trace” information about staff and their bubbles.
  • Maintain hygiene practices – clean and wipe down.
  • Organise sales via online means as much as possible - go digital wherever possible to engage with customers.
  • Schedule customer appointments to avoid extensive contact with staff.

Customer

  • Any customer engagement should be in open areas (large rooms) to allow separation distances – do not use small office spaces to engage with.
  • Develop safe hygiene protocols for assessing trade-in vehicles etc.
  • Any person on site must complete a Contact Register.
  • Collect financing support documentation by email/fax where possible.

Contractors/suppliers

  • Designated drop off area to avoid physical contact with staff.
  • Order parts online or over the phone (if required).
  • Maintain social distancing – 2m.
  • Company reps, insurance assessors or contractors may visit site to carry out work but must complete Contact Register and comply with your business action plans.
  • When you go to your registration agent (e.g VTNZ etc) they might ask you to present your Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) - note; this is referred to as a Safe Work Plan in our information. Recognise this request is the agent's own way of ensuring compliance within their own SOP. If you haven’t prepared an SOP (Safe Work Plan), guidance on development of this is provided in the 'Before you open' section.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

  • Gloves for handling keys, paperwork handed to customers (if any)
  • Car seat covers and face masks when entering a vehicle that has been used by a customer (test drive return for clean or trade-in assessment).
  • MTA members can obtain items such as disposable seat covers and coveralls through the ECOS shop.
  • Repco also has a wealth of PPE and cleaning equipment available; they can be ordered online or via telephone.

Suggested protocols for Trade In, Test Drive, and Vehicle Delivery

The following are suggestions and business owners should develop these protocols to suit their specific business circumstances.

1. Vehicle test-drive

  • Before arriving, the customer indicates which vehicle(s) they wish to test drive.
  • They are provided instruction from the dealership as to the process and what the safe trading standards will be for their entry onto the dealership e.g. no more than two people.
  • Upon arrival customers are stopped at the gate (most likely in their vehicle) and their appointment confirmed by a staff member in PPE.
  • Their arrival is logged in the digital contact tracing system and they are directed to park in a designated customer parking zone. This is well away from general stock vehicles and other customers.
  • As this has been arranged prior, the vehicles have been moved to a separate location in the dealership that is easily accessible from the customer parking area avoiding the need for the customer to walk between general stock vehicles.
  • The vehicle can be cleaned and locked to ensure no other contact is made with the interior.
  • The high-touch exterior surfaces can be cleaned again once the customers arrive.
  • The keys can be collected in a way very similar to a rental vehicle where the customer leaves with the vehicle entirely unaccompanied.
  • When they return to the dealership they are again stopped at the entrance and provided instructions on what to do now they have returned e.g. where to park and that they must stay with the vehicle and not wander around the dealership.

2. Trade-in appraisal

  • Prior to arriving the customer is asked to clean and declutter the vehicle to ensure it is able to be cleaned and sanitised effectively.
  • They are provided instruction from the dealership as to the process and what the safe trading standards will be for their entry e.g. no more than two people.
  • Upon arrival customers are stopped at the gate (most likely in their vehicle) and their appointment confirmed.
  • Their arrival is logged in the digital contact tracing system and they are directed to park in a designated trade-in valuation parking zone. This is well away from general stock vehicles and other customers.
  • They are asked to leave the vehicle and wait in a designated ‘clean customer zone’ where they are unable to interact with other customers or stock vehicles.
  • Before the vehicle is valued a staff member wearing PPE cleans and sanitises the high touch exterior and interior surfaces of the vehicle. All windows should be opened to circulate fresh air.
  • The staff member who values the vehicle will wear PPE throughout the process (strict business hygiene practises will dictate the correct use of PPE as well as the required pre and post handwashing process).
  • Prior to returning the vehicle to the customer the vehicle is cleaned again.
  • This process will take less than 30 minutes from end to end.

3. Delivery

  • Before arriving at the dealership the customer has selected the vehicle they wish to purchase and all necessary paperwork is completed electronically prior.
  • They are provided instruction from the dealership as to the process and what the safe trading standards will be for their entry e.g. no more than two people.
  • Upon arrival customer are stopped at the gate (most likely in their vehicle) and their appointment confirmed.
  • Their arrival is logged in the digital contact tracing system and they are directed to park in a designated customer parking zone. This is well away from general stock vehicles and other customers.
  • As this is arranged prior the vehicle has been moved to a separate location in the dealership that is easily accessible from the customer parking area avoiding the need for the customer to walk between general stock vehicles.
  • The vehicle can be cleaned and locked to ensure no contact is made with the interior.
  • The high-touch exterior surfaces can be cleaned again once the customer arrives.
  • The keys can be collected in a way very similar to a rental vehicle where the customer leaves with the vehicle entirely unaccompanied.

An overview of how the process of purchasing a vehicle can work at Level 3 is here >>

Vehicle Recovery / Parts / Retail

Vehicle Recovery

  • Maintain social distance of 2m with members of the public and customers.
  • Use disposable seat covers when moving vehicles.
  • Wipe down door handle, keys, steering wheels, handbrake and gear leavers and seatbelt buckles before and after moving vehicles.
  • Clean work clothes in hot water every night.
  • Use contactless payment methods.

Parts / Retail

  • Similar to vehicle repair in keeping staff and customers safe.
  • Maintain social distancing.
  • No customers to be in showroom, internet and phone orders only.
  • Designated pick up and drop off areas for parts.
  • Ask customers to assign a drop off area for couriers.
  • If staff need to visit a customer, they must abide with that business’s H&S policies and safe work plan.
  • Use contactless payment methods.