Restaurants and pubs are among some of the businesses who will benefit from a new training program to prepare South Australia’s hospitality sector for reopening in the coming weeks and staying ‘COVID-clean’.
The online training program, co-funded by the state and federal governments, will provide advice to workers on issues such hand hygiene practices, effective surface cleaning, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), disposal of contaminated waste, among other skills.
The state and federal governments have equally contributed $2.6 million towards the training which will be delivered through the state government and promoted by key stakeholders such as the Restaurant and Catering Association, the Australian Hotels Association and the tourism industry.
Up to 5,500 training places for this accredited training will be available in South Australia in retail, tourism, hospitality, cleaning, security, transport and logistics, and will be delivered by local registered training organisations.
Premier Steven Marshall said this is fantastic news for South Australian businesses who are busy and focussed on preparing their workplaces and staff for a much-awaited reopening.
“As restaurants and pubs gear up to get back to work, the ‘COVID-clean’ toolkit will boost business confidence, particularly as restrictions begin to ease.”
Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said the training program will instill confidence in the community that the premises they are visiting such as cafes and pubs are doing all they can to help minimise the risk of spreading COVID-19.
“We’ve worked closely with the federal government to deliver this funding which will see workers gain the skills and knowledge to help minimise the risk and transmission of infection while carrying out their usual duties in the workplace,” Pisoni said.
The toolkit follows the launch of Western Australia’s mandatory COVID-19 hygiene training program for hospitality and tourism workers.
The specialised COVID-19 hygiene training course, run in partnership with the state government and the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) WA, will need to be successfully completed by every staff member employed at a hospitality venue. Businesses will only be able to reopen once all requirements of the initiative are met.
The course is two-tiered, with all staff required to complete the basic training, while a second more detailed Hygiene Officer course will be required for managers and supervisors. When re-opening occurs, each venue must have one hygiene officer on duty at all times to ensure venue compliance.
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