As of 1:00am Wednesday 23 December, all businesses in the hospitality industry including pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes must be implementing digital record keeping of patron contact details with paper-based record keeping no longer accepted as per the the Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction.
Those who operate a restricted business, activity or undertaking (for example, a restaurant or a bar) must keep contact information about all patrons and staff for a minimum of 30 days and maximum of 56 days. For each patron, this includes:
• Full name
• Phone number
• Email address (residential address if unavailable)
• Date and time period of patronage.
• To capture the time period, businesses must keep a person's in-time and out-time, have policies that restrict time periods (for example 2-hour table limit) or inform the person they are more likely to be contacted by the authorities in the event of contact tracing if an out-time is not provided.
*Further information on collecting contact information can be found here.
To track your patrons, we recommend implementing one of the below methods:
*Please note, QR Codes can now be read by most smartphone cameras with no downloaded applications required. Patrons will need to hover over the QR Code as if they were taking a photo and a link will appear. Alternatively, some Android phones read QR Codes with ‘Google Lens’, an installed application on the phone. Once selected the camera will appear, hover over the QR Code and a link will appear.
SafeVisit
Fully funded by The Brisbane Junior Chamber of Commerce and an initiative of two committee members, Sandy Lokas and Nathan Schokker, SafeVisit is a totally free online Contact Tracing platform for Australian businesses.
After setting up your account, you will be emailed a PDF file containing your QR Code to display at your venue. Your customers will then scan the code via their phone's camera with no app required. The platform also allows patrons to add any minors as part of the same household, and has a live headcount system that automatically adjusts as your patrons check-in and check-out.
All data captured is kept within Australia through Amazon Web Services and will be stored based on the required period of time dedicated by state governments. After this period, the data will be deleted and not used for any other purpose aside from contact tracing. During the setup process, you will recieve an email linking to your Dashboard. Here, you can view your records and provide them to the authorities if needed.
To sign-up for free and read the FAQs, visit SafeVisit here.
Google Forms
Through linking a QR Code to Google Forms, contact tracing information can be populated into a secure Google spreadsheet for you to view when needed.
Instructions:
1. Login to Google Forms (you will only need a ‘personal’ account).
2. Start a new form – select ‘Blank’.
3. Here you can add a description and any fields you want including the type of answer. Be sure to make the fields ‘required’ (bottom right corner) to ensure guests cannot submit without answering the questions. We suggest making the type of answer a ‘paragraph’ so that people can write more text if needed.
4. You can update the theme of the form and include an image in the header/change the colour by selecting the paint palette in the top right corner.
5. To ensure guests do not have to make a Google Account to fill out the form – select the ‘settings’ menu in the top right corner, and untick the ‘requires sign in’ box.
6. Once you are happy with the form, select the eye icon in the top right corner to preview.
7. To link an excel spreadsheet to the form, select the ‘responses’ tab in the middle of the page. Then select the excel icon (box with an off centred cross) to create the spreadsheet.
8. To see the responses from guests an overview will be previewed in the ‘responses’ tab. To see the responses in excel (with the time and date) select the excel icon (box with an off centred cross). To download the excel document, select the three vertical dots.
9. To create the QR Code you will need the shareable link. To do this, click the ‘send’ button in the right hand corner, click the link button (second option) and copy. This is where you can also send via email or find the embed code.
10. Create the QR Code here. Enter the shareable link. You can also change colours and add a logo if you wish. Download the PNG file to print and once scanned, this will link to the Google Form.
11. Remember to double check the code works before displaying in your venue.
*For multiple people, each person will have to complete the form.
For further information on the changes to contact tracing requirements, visit the Queensland Government.
