COVID-19 GUIDE FOR WATERSPORTS SCHOOLS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITY CENTERS

FIND OUT WHAT MEASURES TO IMPLEMENT IN YOUR SCHOOL FOR EQUIPMENT CLEANING AND PROTECTION OF THE CLIENTS AND STAFF DURING CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

The resources will be regularly updated to include most accurate and extensive information regarding the COVID-19 policies and regulation.

The recent coronavirus crisis has severely affected many businesses dedicated to watersports and outdoor activities. Understanding how to handle it correctly can be confusing and complicated.

For this reason the Bloowatch team has researched and put together recommendations offered by the governments and sport organizations in Europe and USA. Our goal is to provide you with a comprehensive overview of sources and policies to implement to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

If you are looking for guidance on cleaning of equipment and facilities, protecting the health of customers and employees as you resume your activity, this guide is for you.

1. What safety measures to observe in preparation for the outdoor and sport activities?

Personal safety is the #1 concern for everyone at this time. What actions can you implement to reassure your clients that your business is covid-free when you reopen?

REGISTRATION & PAYMENT

• It is recommended to process the registration and invoicing of activities as much as possible digitally and without direct contact, for example by phone, through the website, by email, in apps.

If you haven’t already done so, introduce contactless payments such as bank transfers, Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay to reduce personal contact.

• In case you have to accept the payment directly, try to avoid cash by accepting contactless card payments and clean the card before and after use with a disinfectant.

 MODIFYING & CANCELLING RESERVATIONS

• Inform your clients about the modification and cancellation policies in advance. Provide a document that outlines your cancellation policy and contains information regarding the planning of the activity and the preventive safety actions to take during as well as after the session in the case of an illness.
• Ask your clients to confirm that they have read and accepted the policies. Applications such as Bloowatch can help to streamline and make this process automatic. Get in touch with us if you want to know more.

ENVIRONMENT

• If your activity takes place in a river, lake or any other body of water it is recommended to ensure that water quality is appropriate.

• Make sure that you have clear signs to indicate the safety rules such as keeping safe distance, wearing masks and washing hands in common areas on the premises as well as in transportation vehicles. Special posters should be placed at the entrance and in the reception area.
• Provide disinfecting gel dispensers in the zones of high possibility of contact: entrances, reception, bathroom.
• Make sure that preventive measures such as cleaning and social distancing is carried out in the offices, meeting spaces, locker rooms, bathrooms, equipment storage lockers to prevent the transmission of the virus.

PREPARE AND IMPLEMENT A GENERAL CLEANING AND DISINFECTION PLAN.

Points to outline:

• Surfaces and areas that have to be cleaned and disinfected: counters, doorknobs, common areas, changing rooms and bathrooms, material used in the activity and others that match your school environment.
• Cleaning  and disinfecting products and how they should be applied.
• Disinfection frequency.
• Staff responsible for these tasks.

For guidance on using specific cleaning and desinfecting products refer to this guide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/disinfection/disinfection-methods/chemical.html

How to clean and disinfect materials:

• Separate personally used materials placing them in separate storage units.
• It is recommended that materials of shared use such as boards, fins, oars and others are to be cleaned with soap in a separate spray tank.
• A special disinfection process is to be applied to wetsuits, gloves, lycra,  and other similar items after each use. SANYTOL is one of the providers of disinfectant products developed specifically to be used on wetsuits and similar equipment.

2. What safety measures to observe during the outdoor and sport activities?

• Transportation vehicles such as vans, buses and cars should be cleaned and disinfected after each activity, with the most attention to the possible areas of contagion such as the steering wheel, handles, seats, armrests.
• Appropriate social distancing measures and personal safety guidelines should be implemented throughout the whole activity. A safety distance of at least 4 meters should be observed in all activities on the ground such as in classes, during stretching and warm-ups. A safety distance of 2 meters should be observed while in the water. Any close contact between the instructor and a student is to be avoided.
• Each participant is responsible to carry their own materials and has to avoid carrying or touching the material of other participants or the instructors.
• Do not share creams, lipsticks, towels, waxes and other personal use items with other people.
• Acquire personal protective equipment such as FFP2 and FFP3 masks and hydroalcoholic gels. These should be mandatory to wear for employees present in common areas such as reception.
• The instructor should be facing the direction of the wind through all the activity.
• Students should address the instructor placing a hand in front of their mouth.
• For surfers, the maximum time of activity is limited to 2h (including the time it takes to arrive at the point of activity).
• Avoid sharing showers, hoses, footbaths.
• Avoid cleaning suits in showers.
• Use a separate disinfection container for each of the items: wetsuits, lycra or other.

3. What should you do if any staff member of the student of your school has shown coronavirus symptoms over the last 14 days?

• First of all, inform the school director. The director is responsible for informing all those who have been in close contact with an infected person as well as for the deep cleaning and disinfection of all the areas and materials used.
• With a suspicion of a member of staff or a student to have coronavirus symptoms all activities should be stopped and cancelled immediately.
• Identify the school participants who may have had close contact with the affected person and share this information with the school director.
• If the person has tested negative, this information should be shared with the school director.
• If the member of the staff has tested positive, they should stay home and ask for professional medical help.

As the state of the proper management of the watersport and outdoor activities changes over time, we will update this article with any new information. 

Since many countries and regions have implemented their own policies in regards to prevention of COVID-19 pandemic, we advise you to verify directly with your local authorities what measures apply to your school directly in order to be compliant with local regulations.

Please do not hesitate to share this article with anyone for whom it may be useful.

For a list of references and sources of information per country and per activity please refer to the following article: GOVERNMENT AND PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES FOR COVID-19 PREVENTION.