While food retail has been key to keep the country running other retail shops are likely to be opening soon after a period of closure. Staff and customers need to be confident that their welfare and safety has been considered and that businesses are operating safely. Our webinar will aim to provide some clarity around the law and re-starting your business safely.

West Devon and South Hams Councils are running webinars to advise business how to operate safely during the Coronavirus pandemic. The seminar will take you through step by step the free Better Business for ALL (BBfA) COVID-19 toolkit that will enable businesses to identify the hazards and document the controls that they must put in place to overcome them.

There will then be a question and answer session with South Hams and West Devon’s Environmental Health Officers and Devon County Council’s Trading Standards Officers. We hope this webinar will provide friendly, informative and supportive help with some of these concerns.

We are hoping to offer a series of sector based webinars giving you the opportunity to catch up on the latest advice and put questions to our team on a range of regulatory matters covering Coronavirus safety, health and safety, trading standards and  food safety. It is hoped a separate webinar regarding licensing for the hospitality industry will be held shortly.

The format for each will involve a presentation of approximately 15 - 30 minutes followed by an opportunity to ask questions. If you can’t make the live webinar, a recording will be available afterwards and questions can be sent in advance. Please send questions via email to environmental.health@swdevon.gov.uk

The first session will be at 10 a.m. and the same session will be re-run at 3 p.m., both on 11 June, hosted on Zoom. Spaces at each session are limited to 100 participants.

• Thursday 11 June at 10 a.m. Click here to join
• Thursday 11 June at 3 p.m. Click here to join

The Better Business for All Partnership have produced a toolkit to help businesses which are planning to reopen to do so safely.

Even if your business isn't one reopening soon, it's a good time to start thinking about risks and controls that will need to be in place before you do reopen.

The toolkit contains template risk assessments, checklists, posters and more.

The Better Business for All partnership is a partnership between businesses, business support and regulators across Devon and Somerset, which works to promote economic prosperity while maintaining public protection.

You can check on the Gov.UK website if your business is able to reopen yet.

More information is being released regularly, so please do keep an eye out for bulletins and follow local media.

BBfA is part of a national government initiative to reduce the regulatory burden on business. It is endorsed by Regulatory Delivery, which is part of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

BBfA aims to improve how regulatory services are delivered in Devon & Somerset and to show how working with your local regulators can save you time and money, improve your competitiveness and help you grow your business.

The partnership aims to create an environment where businesses feel confident to seek advice from local regulators without fear of attracting enforcement activity. This in turn helps businesses be successful while protecting customers.