Guidelines on Mandatory Face Masks in Retail Settings
- Mon 10 August, 2020
As you will be aware, the wearing of face masks in a retail setting becomes obligatory from today, Monday 10th August.
DublinTown has represented your interests during virtual meetings with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Health in the drafting of these regulations to help ensure that the regulations (which are required for public health purposes) are both practical and workable.
We have particularly referenced the enforcement provisions and the importance of not placing an undue burden on sales assistants within the retail environment.
That is, as part of your trading day you will have customers visit who may (for example) be wearing a facemask, sunglasses and a hat – making it impossible for you to adequately identify them on CCTV or confirm that they are above the appropriate age for the sale of goods.
DublinTown sought for guidelines to be included that allow you to request a person visiting your business premises to remove their mask temporarily to allow for identification purposes.
See: Section 5 (f) of S.I. No. 296 of 2020 Health Act 1947 (Section 31A – Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (Face Coverings in Certain Premises and Businesses) Regulations 2020 – we are pleased to see this included.
Namely: That “the person removes the face covering at the request of a responsible person, or of a worker, in order to enable him or her to ascertain the person’s age by reference to photographic identification for the purposes of the sale of goods or services in respect of which there is a minimum age requirement or where the responsible person, or worker, has lawful authority to verify the person’s identity”
Further explanation of the provisions can be found here.
Additionally, The Department of Health have also produced a variety of updated face covering posters relating to the new regulations and they are available (in English and Irish).