COVID-19 PANDEMIC: IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT VOLUNTEERING AT THE FARM

• We are focusing on our core activities as a community organisation, namely growing organic vegetables and running our not-for-profit VegBox delivery service. We rely on the help of many volunteers in delivering these outputs, and so we hope that volunteers assess their personal level of risk and continue to come to volunteer if they feel comfortable doing so. We rely on the VegBox income to survive as an organisation.
• Volunteering at the farm is a good chance to get out in the fresh air, benefiting your physical and psychological health.
• We use an online rota management system called Three Rings; you will need to book for specific volunteer sessions on a weekly basis. This is so that we can manage the numbers of volunteers on site, and to ensure that we have contingency plans for sessions that are low on numbers. We need to be highly organised to ensure that everyone coming to volunteer stays safe, and that we can continue as a community organisation. You can access this rota system once you have come to volunteer for the first time.
• Please follow the NHS advice or track and trace instructions, and do not come to volunteer if you or anyone else in your household has suspected or confirmed Covid-19, and do not come if you or anyone in your household has been instructed to self-isolate.

We will be taking steps to reduce social contact at the farm

• We have set up a sheltered, outdoor tea station.
• We will be postponing our communal lunches until further notice.
• We will set up VegBox packing stations and workspaces in the barn with a 2m gap between stations. Where possible, please try to maintain this distance whilst moving around as well.
• You are welcome to wear a face mask while you are volunteering, although this is no longer mandatory. Please be respectful of other people’s different levels of comfort and safety – whether you are wearing a face mask or not, please keep your distance from other volunteers and staff.
• As best as possible, please stay out of the Veg Shed which is now exclusively the office space and kitchen for staff.

Please help us in taking extra hygiene measures

• Please wash your hands at one of our 4 external sinks (hot water is available in the sink in the toilet and the sink to the left of the Veg Shed near the Tea Station area, only cold water is available in the sink next to the toilet and the sink next to the compost heap)
• You must wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds when you arrive to the farm, and please wash your hands before and after eating.
• Using hand sanitiser is a good idea, but it is not a substitute for washing your hands with water and soap.
• Volunteers are welcome to use disposable gloves that we can provide, but please still regularly wash your hands with soapy water as this is the most effective way to reduce transmission.
• We will provide disposable paper towels for hand drying.
• If you are doing a packing task, please clean your workstation, weighing scales and weighing bowl before and after you do your task.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze. Put used tissues in the landfill bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards.

Please be mindful of working with staff and volunteers and be respectful of the extra precautions they might want to take, or might ask you to take. This is a challenging time for everyone, so let’s work together in supporting each other.

Our full Covid-19 Risk Assessment, which has been reviewed and approved by our management committee, can be viewed here.

This situation is unprecedented, and so for as long as it continues we all need to take steps to be safe, responsible and to support each other in minimising risk. Please contact Sonia (sonia@suttoncommunityfarm.org.uk) if you have any questions or concerns, or suggestions for improvement in any of our practices and protocols.