COVID-19 Safety Plan

Places of worship and religious gatherings

Effective 21 January 2021

How to complete the COVID-19 Safety Plan

Record the action/s you will put in place under all the Safety Plan sections:

wellbeing of staff and customers
physical distancing
hygiene and cleaning
record keeping.

Each requirement must be addressed in each section. If a requirement does not apply to your premises, briefly describe why.

Once you complete the COVID-19 Safety Plan, a confirmation email will be sent to you with a copy of your plan attached as a PDF.

To complete the COVID-19 Safety Plan offline, print a blank copy of the form using the print button.

Remember to keep a copy of your COVID-19 Safety Plan on your premises at all times.

Details

Name of place of worship

Location (town, suburb or postcode)

If your place or worship has multiple premises, complete a Safety Plan for each location. Provide contact details for the person responsible for the COVID-19 Safety Plan at each location.

Completed by

Full name

Email address

We will send a copy of the plan to your email.

Requirements for business

Exclude staff and congregants who are unwell from the premises.

Provide staff with information and training on COVID-19, including when to get tested, physical distancing, wearing masks, and cleaning.

Make staff aware of their leave entitlements if they are sick or required to self-isolate.

Consider offering online services or alternative arrangements for people in high-risk categories (e.g. over 70 years).

Other types of venues or facilities within the premises must complete COVID-19 Safety Plans where applicable. If contact details are captured electronically upon entry to the main premises on the relevant day, additional collection of contact details via electronic methods may not be required if there is no other public access to the sub-premises. However, additional contact details and time of entry must be captured where these sub-premises are indoor gyms, nightclubs, dine-in hospitality venues, pubs and bars.

Venues taking bookings for weddings and funerals should ensure there is a COVID-19 Safety Plan in place for the event.

Capacity in regions outside of Greater Sydney must not exceed one visitor per 2 square metres of publicly accessible space. In Greater Sydney, capacity at a place of public worship or indoor religious gathering must not exceed 100 visitors, OR one visitor per 4 square metres of publicly accessible space, whichever is less. Children count towards the capacity limit.

Note: ‘Greater Sydney’ means Greater Sydney as defined by the Public Health (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) Order (No 7) 2020.

In Greater Sydney, if a place of public worship has more than one building on the premises, each building can have up to 100 persons, OR one person per 4 square metres of publicly accessible space, whichever is less, provided that each building has:

a separate ingress/egress to the outdoors
no contact between congregants or staff across these buildings
a separate COVID-19 Safety Plan for each building.

Face masks must be worn in indoor areas by public facing staff and by anyone older than 12 years in Greater Sydney at places of worship being used for public worship or religious services, unless exempt.

Note: For weddings, the wedding party, including the people being married and the people necessary for the conduct of the wedding, are exempt from wearing masks in indoor areas at places of worship.

Ensure 1.5m physical distancing where possible, including:

at points of mixing or queuing such as toilets and entrance and exit points
between seated groups
between staff.

Ensure congregants remain seated throughout the service, where reasonably practical.

Reduce crowding wherever possible and promote physical distancing with markers where people are asked to queue or stand.

Where reasonably practical, ensure staff maintain 1.5 metres physical distancing at all times, including at meal breaks and in offices or meeting rooms.

Use telephone or video for essential meetings where practical.

Review regular deliveries and request contactless delivery and invoicing where practical.

Have strategies in place to manage gatherings that may occur immediately outside the premises, such as at the conclusion of services. This may involve suspending or adjusting the practice of greeting congregants as they arrive or depart to ensure appropriate physical distancing.

Coordinate with public transport, where reasonably practical, around strategies to minimise COVID-19 risks associated with transportation to and from the venue if crowding on public transport may occur.

Take measures to ensure drivers of courtesy vehicles minimise close contact with passengers where possible and encourage passengers to wear masks whilst in the vehicle.

Education programs should be conducted in accordance with the NSW Government guidelines on Schools and Childcare. Students do not need to follow strict adult physical distancing guidelines but should follow good hygiene practices and physically distance where practicable. Staff should continue to maintain 1.5 metres physical distancing from students where practicable.

No more than 5 performers should sing indoors. There is no recommended cap on performers singing outdoors. All performing singers should face forwards and not towards each other, have physical distancing of 1.5m between each other and any other performers, and be 5m from all other people including the audience and conductor, where practical. In indoor areas, congregants should not participate in singing or chanting. In outdoor areas, congregants older than 12 years should wear masks if singing or chanting.

Adopt good hand hygiene practices.

Ensure bathrooms are well stocked with hand soap and paper towels or hand dryers.

Consider modifying religious rites or rituals to avoid direct contact where practical, such as communion or other similar practices. Where this is not practical, ensure hands are washed before and after each interaction with soap and water or hand sanitiser.

Clean frequently used indoor hard surface areas (including children’s play areas) at least daily with detergent/disinfectant. Clean frequently touched areas and surfaces several times per day.

Disinfectant solutions need to be maintained at an appropriate strength and used in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions.

Staff are to wear gloves when cleaning and wash hands thoroughly before and after with soap and water.

In indoor areas, increase natural ventilation by opening windows and doors where possible, and increase mechanical ventilation where possible by optimising air conditioning or other system settings (such as by maximising the intake of outside air and reducing or avoiding recirculation of air).

Keep a record of name, contact number and entry time for all staff, volunteers, visitors and contractors for a period of at least 28 days. Electronic collection (e.g. using a QR code) of contact details for each person is strongly encouraged. Any paper records must be entered into an electronic format such as a spreadsheet within 12 hours. Records must be provided as soon as possible, but within 4 hours, upon request from an authorised officer.

Ensure records are used only for the purposes of COVID-19 contact tracing and are collected and stored confidentially and securely. When selecting and using an electronic method of record collection, take reasonably practical steps to protect privacy and ensure the records are secure. Consider the 'Customer record keeping' page of nsw.gov.au.

All places of worship must complete a COVID-19 Safety Plan and register themselves through nsw.gov.au.

Make your staff aware of the COVIDSafe app and its benefits to support contact tracing if required.

I agree to keep a copy of this COVID-19 Safety Plan at the premises

Now that you have finished, send the plan as a PDF to the email address you provided.

COVID-19 Safety Plan

Places of worship and religious gatherings

How to complete the COVID-19 Safety Plan

Details

Requirements for business

Wellbeing of staff and congregants

Physical distancing

Hygiene and cleaning

Record keeping