How to use this information
To assist dance artists, practitioners and teachers in preparing for a return to in-person practical work during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve outlined below some areas to consider when undertaking a risk assessment of your work in respect of COVID-19.
This is in addition to - not instead of - the procedures you normally have in place for general risk assessments and safeguarding (i.e. those not specific to COVID-19), which you should continue to assess and record in your usual way. Before restarting in-person community & participatory dance work it is important to:
- Bring yourself up to date with government and public health guidance
- Carry out a COVID-19 Risk Assessment for your work
- Update and adjust your working practices, procedures or policies
- Communicate with your participants, partners, colleagues and venue managers
- Continue to review and adjust as new information and guidance emerges.
We envisage this information as being crowd-sourced – as we all learn more about how things work in practice, we can share and network information between us all. If you have an idea or suggestion to add, let us know by using this short form. We will publish occasional updates, with notes to highlight anything new or changed.
You are welcome to use and distribute this information as you wish, or signpost people to https://bit.ly/3hqSJpl
Insurance & Legal Helpline service
Professional Individual Members of People Dancing are covered
by their insurance benefits for their dance work as long as official
government guidance is being adhered to. This includes cover for
work/teaching online as well as that taking place in-person.
Professional Individual Members can access a Legal Helpline service,
which is available through Abbey Legal Protection, available 24/7 for
specialist advice on matters such as Employment Law including contracts
and insurance – contact details shown on Evidence of Cover issued by
Bluefin Sport. You will have receievd this by email at the point of
joining or renewal. Call the office on 0116 253 3453 if you need help
with this.
If you obtain insurance for your work from another provider, we
recommend you seek clarification from them about any specific or
additional requirements or limitations.
If you would like to join People Dancing as a member, to access the brilliant insurance benefits, you can do so online at www.communitydance.org.uk/membership
Taking care of yourself
Many freelancers will be making decisions about their risk assessments and approaches to returning to work in isolation. Reach out to others and make connections for support. You might want to consider asking someone to look at your COVID-19 planning as an ‘outside eye’.
When working as a contractor or employee, be empowered to say ‘no’ if something doesn’t feel quite right or you think official guidance is not being adhered to. Follow the organisation’s usual procedure for raising concern.
If you don’t feel ready to recommence in-person work discuss this with the commissioning body or employer. If you are self-employed, proceed at a pace that you are comfortable with. Stay in dialogue with your groups.