Cross Street Studio and Covid-19

UPDATED: April 2022

Minimising the risk of potential COVID-19 transmission between our staff, clients, suppliers as well as the wider public is of paramount importance to us.

This document, following current government and NHS guidance, sets out our policy and working practices with the aim of maximising effectiveness in terms of providing a safe and healthy workplace.

Given the specific hazards and working conditions of the film, television and creative media industries, we will also monitor industry guidelines from organisations such as the APA (Advertising Producers Association) and PACT (Producers Alliance for Cinema & Television) and update this document so as toadhere to current ‘best practice’.

We will ensure that our staff are regularly updated on the guidelines and working practices outlined in this document. Posters providing guidance on these measures, such as social distancing and hand washing, will also be located at strategic points throughout our business premises.

APA Guidelines

The new Government guidelines recommend the following courses of action, recommended to be followed by the APA:

■ Carry out a COVID - 19 risk assessment.

■ Clean more often - both of surfaces and in the provision of hand santiser and instructions to those attending the production to use it.

■ Wear face coverings whilst around people you don’t usually meet.

■ Restricting contact between people who do not usually meet to the extent it is practical to do so.

■ Provide adequate ventilation.

■ Turn people with coronavirus symptoms away. We also advise additional requirements for businesses' COVID - 19 risk assessments and advise that companies must:

■ Share the results of their COVID - 19 risk assessment with their workforce.

■ Demonstrate to their workers and customers that they have properly assessed their risk and taken appropriate measures to mitigate this. You should do this by displaying a Staying COVID - 19 Secure notification in a prominent place in your business and on your website

What Cross Street Studio is Doing

COVID-19 Symptoms

Any member of our staff who suspects that they have COVID-19 symptoms or becomes unwell will be asked to take a PCR test and remain at home, self- isolating for a ten-day (or 7 if appropriate) period.

Entry

For the benefit of all others within the building, visitors will be asked on arrival to please read a Health Declaration Notice. This document is basically a checklist of reasons why someone should not enter the premises.

Social Distancing Measures

Our staff will observe the two-metre social distancing rule within our workplace and any visitors to our premises will be requested to respect this measure. Our experience is that many humans find it incredibly difficult to manage even a one-metre distance, so we ask that clients please try to encourage and remind those in their charge to be observant of the rule.

Hand Sanitiser, Hand Washing & PPE

There are hand-washing facilities on the stage, in the shower room and in the toilets.

Bottles of hand sanitiser will be located throughout our premises. All staff and visitors to be advised to use hand sanitiser frequently throughout the day and similarly to wash their hands on a regular basis.

Clients are requested to arrive with their own hand sanitiser and face masks and distribute to anyone who does not have them, please.

It is currently a legal requirement to wear a face mask in a very wide array of premises. Film Studios have been missed from the list, but the theory behind the masks is the same in here as anywhere else. Everyone who works for Cross Street Studios will wear face masks.

We continue to strongly request that all individuals associated with your booking wear FFP2/KN95 face masks at all times inside the studio premises, other than when they are eating or drinking, please.

We also think that it would be a very good thing if everybody who comes in here has received at least two Covid vaccinations. If possible, this would be very much our preference.

Actors/contributors with speaking roles will of course be exempt whilst delivering their lines on stage, provided appropriate measures have been taken to ensure the safety of those working around them.

Toilets

Our toilets are individually isolated. We also provide hand towels which are washed after each use on a 90-degree wash to ensure all bacteria has been eliminated.

Hygiene: furniture

High-touch surfaces: such as door handles, taps, tables, chair backs etc will be cleaned after each shoot day by Cross Street Studio staff (unless access to the stage is not appropriate). If we cannot get on to the stage, we would expect that those within would conduct their own cleaning regime, please.

Clean as you go: we would expect that crew and other visitors to our premises assist in keeping the studio a safe working environment by cleaning as they go. For instance, make-up and wardrobe rooms as well as production offices should be disinfected (spraying and wiping all surfaces and fixtures with a decontaminant) at the end of the day by those who have been the principal occupants, please.

Hygiene: in-house equipment

In-house equipment is cleaned before and after each booking. We are able to sanitise all hireable items, eliminating contaminants without leaving any chemical residue either in the air or on the surfaces themselves.

Cross Hire is located at the studio and has more than enough to facilitate any kind of stills, animation and live-action tabletop shoots, so there's no need to worry about hiring kit externally.

The studio also has:

Motion control/model movers
Surfaces (marble, slate, glass, wood, laminate)
Backings (coloramas, skies, painted cyc, green/blue screen)
Decks, apple boxes, drapes, rigging
A selection of tabletop props: plates/glassware/knives forks/books/plants etc.
Food stylist kitchen

Ventilation

The large font shutter and rear doors can be left open to ventilate the studio effectively.

There is no air conditioning system within the building. However, we do have large fans.

Refreshments

The studio has its own tea & coffee area. We are recommended that where possible one designated crew member uses the refreshment area to make tea & coffee etc and takes them to the stage, but this may not be necessary here as the area is so close to the stage.

Waste

Bins will be covered or in most cases will be pedal-bins. Recycling facilities in place as usual.

Live Streaming for Remote Access

One positive outcome of our new normal is the success of Live Streaming. Everyone seems to agree that it works perfectly for clients and agency members not in attendance.

Finally

Cross Street Studio cannot accept any responsibility for any transmission of the COVID-19 virus that may have taken place on its premises. As with other matters of health & safety, we are acting on advice, regulations and common sense to make the studios as safe an environment as possible under the current conditions. Clients must please accept responsibility for any risk to themselves or to any personnel who they may bring with them.

Please give us a call or email Simon or Imogen on:

T: +447831400850 / +447814754544

info@crossstreetstudio.tv / imogen@crossstreetstudio.tv