Scenery

General instructions on physical distancing from other people and hand hygiene (soap washing and sanitiser), as well as general coronavirus cleaning instructions (wiping of contact surfaces with a basic all-purpose cleaner and, if necessary, disinfectant, at least daily) and continuous, adequate ventilation are also valid for scenery work.

  • The exceptional situation calls for changes in the working culture in the performing arts sector: all close contacts must be reduced, the social working culture changed and there should be a lower threshold to stay at home sick.
  • An employee with the symptoms of the illness cannot come to work. After the illness there must be one completely asymptomatic day. We recommend continuing a procedure in which employees can notify employers themselves about staying at home sick.
  • We recommend dividing the workplace into teams (or “families”) which colleagues do not change between and in which they avoid contact with other teams’ members.
  • We recommend that personnel wear masks, whenever possible, in all situations.

We also recommend these measures for scenery work:

In scenery:

  • We recommend the use of a face mask, a respirator mask or a face shield whenever possible.
  • Computer keyboards, machine tools and devices in shared use shall be cleaned after use, by mild wiping of their contact surfaces with alkaline detergent or alcohol-containing cleaning agent.
  • The steering wheel, other controls and contact surfaces of shared lifts, forklifts and cars shall also be cleaned after use, or hand hygiene shall be observed before and after contact with joint-purpose devices.
  • Spaces and passageways should be cleaned daily in accordance with the general coronavirus cleaning instructions.
  • We recommend that outsiders do not have access to the scenery space for any other than necessary matters and that the ban be clearly signed at the doors. We recommend that all visitors to the facilities wear a face mask, a respirator mask or a face shield.
  • We recommend that visits and meetings be conducted as far as possible by means of remote connections. If the visit is necessary on the spot, physical distancing shall be observed.
  • In large theatres, for example, working shifts can divide employees into two groups that are not in contact with another group. This will ensure the continuation of operations in the event of infection.
  • We recommend access to a sufficient number of personal work gloves that are disinfected and exchanged regularly.

Break and meal rooms

  • We recommend that narrow spaces, such as break rooms and dressing rooms, are used by only 1–2 people at one time. However, the overall risk from congestion somewhere else needs to be taken into account. If possible, you can try to spread out break rooms.
  • We recommend staggering breaks and meals so that members of different teams do not interact with other teams.

When moving on stage in contact with others:

  • We recommend that members of other teams use a mouth-nose mask, visor or breath protectors and pay special attention to hand hygiene. Please note that the use of protective equipment is decided on a case-by-case basis on the basis of the employer’s risk assessment. When moving from the scenery space to other premises, clean work gloves are put on.

Update information:

Updated on 4 June 2021: changed 2 metres distance to sufficient distance.

Updated on 23 February 2021: updated physical distance to 2 metres, added mask recommendation in all situations.

Updated on 5 November 2020: added general mask recommendation.

These instructions were updated on 4 June 2020 by the sceneary subordinate working group, led by: Tapio Säkkinen, tapio.sakkinen@opera.fi (Finnish National Opera and Ballet). The subordinate working group’s meetings were also attended by: Sami Nurmi (Turku City Theatre), Juha Westman (Kuopio City Theatre), Tuomas Antikainen (Helsinki City Theatre) and Markus Toivanen (Svenska Teatern).