COVID-19 Common Property Areas & Shared Facilities

Preventing the spread of COVID 19 in shared facilities

We have compiled a list of considerations to assist in managing the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses in facilities.

Physical distancing

A limitation on numbers, based on the ‘one person per four square metres’ rule, must be first determined for each facility. However, managing both the limitation and physical distancing rules is difficult given that most facilities are unmonitored.

Considerations for evaluating whether facilities can be safely opened include:

• Can numbers be restricted?
• Placing time limits on the use.
• Using a booking system.
• Determining that residents should actively use the COVID App if they wish to use the facilities
• Having a sign-in register at each facility where residents must record their details (as has become the practice in restaurants).
• Clear signage stating 1.5-metre minimum must be adhered to, and the number of persons allowed in the facility at any one time.
• Using social distancing markers.

Hygiene & cleaning

NSW Fair Trading guidelines state that common areas should be cleaned more frequently with a focus on points of contact. Cleaning practices must be in line with the Department of Health cleaning & disinfection principles for COVID-19.

Your scheme is likely to have already adopted more stringent cleaning and disinfection methods and might already be using posters and communications to assist in containing the spread of the virus. Either way, we encourage you to read the Principles to gain assurance that all possible hygiene measures have been adopted for common areas.

Communication of measures

NSW Fair Trading has also stated that proper communication strategies are to be established that consider the diverse communities that reside in strata and community schemes.

As such due consideration should be given to:

• Multiple rather than one mode of communication – email, noticeboards, and hard copies.
• Offering translations into other languages.
• Communicating how residents can raise an idea or concern, and
• What standards will be adopted to allow for a prompt and appropriate reply to matters raised by residents?

Committee meetings

Given the risk to personal safety, we strongly recommend that the following is formalised via a committee meeting:

• What measures are being introduced and why.
• What signage is being introduced?
• What communication strategies are to be used with consideration of your scheme’s diversity.
• How suggestions and/or concerns from residents will be dealt with.

Your Strata Plus strata manager continues to be here to assist you through these unprecedented times.