Hard work pays off as Offaly salon receives top hygiene award

Samantha’s Body and Beauty Boutique, Main Street, Clara has been named as one of the first salons in the country to receive the industry's Hygiene Assurance Promise Award.

2020 has been a stressful time for most of our country’s small and medium-sized businesses with a massive 85% of them closed to some degree throughout the initial COVID-19 restrictions and 34% shut completely during this time.

The latter included businesses working within the Hair and Beauty Industry. Re-opening came with a huge responsibility to establish and adhere to Covid-19 health measures, including masks, sanitising and protective screens.

Samantha's has taken to these restrictions with excellence, evidenced by this award.

The Hair and Beauty Industry Federation of Ireland worked closely with other industry bodies to establish a set of guidelines for both hairdressers and barbers and a second set for beauticians. Following this, HABIC teamed up with Image Skillnet, providers of training and development programmes for the Hair and Beauty Industry, and a team of Environmental Health Professionals at Glantar to develop the ‘Hygiene Promise Salon Assurance Programme’.

This programme was established to work with business owners as they re-aligned their way of doing business, managing their teams and servicing their clients alongside Covid-19.

Samantha, like so many business owners was propelled into a frenzy of safety protocols and a whole new way of doing business. Samantha realised that she needed all the help that she could get, and she applied for the fully funded ‘Hygiene
Promise Assurance Award’.

Samantha explained: "Receiving the HABIC Hygiene Promise Award and being audited by Glantar confirmed I was on the right track with all my hygiene standards and protocols. It also confirmed for me, that all the hard work put in place to reopen was worth it.

"To be told by Carmel of Glantar that my protocols went above and beyond has given me confidence and peace of mind that I am doing my utmost to protect myself, my family and my clients. It’s so important that my clients know they can come to the salon confidently knowing they are entering a sanitary safe environment where they can relax, have their treatments and
take time out from it all and enjoy being pampered.’"