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Measures to be taken and rules to be followed at the exhibitions to be organized indoor in the new normal era

COVID-19 infection is transmitted primarily from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets, either from mouth or nose, while infected person speaks, sneezes or coughs. The virus may also be transmitted by touching mouth, nose or eyes with hands through contact with surfaces and objects that have been already contaminated with cough or sneeze. Exhibitors, staff in charge, and visitors of the domestic trade exhibitions to be organized indoor are likely to have close contact with one another and use common materials at a distance less than 1 meter and more than 15 minutes. Therefore, both visitors and exhibitors and staff in charge have to follow the below-mentioned issues in order to protect their health under the COVID-19 pandemic.

General Measures:
  • The exhibition organizer should arrange all the entrances and exits in a way to prevent individuals from contacting each other. Floor markings and signage at entrances and exits (such as turnstiles, etc.) should be placed to introduce one-way flow.
  • The number of people including exhibitors, staff in charge, and visitors on the exhibition venue should be limited to 1 person per each ten (10) square meters.
  • The exhibition organizer should determine the number of visitors entering the exhibition venue, not allow new visitors to enter once the visitor capacity becomes full. Physical distancing rules (at least 1 meter, 3-4 steps) should be followed at entries into and exits from the exhibition venue, visitors should be allowed in queues, and queue control should be managed with floor markings of at least 1 meter between each other. The number of entries into the exhibition venue should be equal to the number of exits from the exhibition venue.
  • Exhibitors, staff members of the exhibition venue, and visitors should wear masks at the entrance and during when they are present at the exhibition venue. The exhibition organizer should provide masks for visitors that do not have masks with them or to keep in case of any need at the exhibition venue.
  • The exhibition organizers should provide hand sanitizers at exhibition entry points and in each stand. They should be periodically checked for the need of replenishment and should be refilled and replaced when necessary.
  • The exhibition organizer must perform temperature checks for exhibitors, staff members of the exhibition venue, and visitors entering the exhibition venue. The staff members that perform the temperature checks should wear a mask and face shield. Those with a temperature above 38°C should not be allowed inside. Those with / who developed symptoms of fever, cough, nasal flow and shortness of breath, as well as the employees that constitute a case of or contacted COVID-19 should be provided with medical masks and referred to a healthcare facility to be examined for COVID-19.
  • Exhibitors, visitors, and staff in charge that have the disease and display the symptoms of the disease and must be under isolation should not be entered into the exhibition venue. HES code should be created to identify those that must be under isolation, a staff assigned by the exhibition organizer should request the HES code of exhibitors, visitors, and staff in charge.
  • The exhibition organizer should install stand walls, stand hallways or a separator between adjacent stands and stand corridors should have at a distance of at least 3 meters.
  • The exhibition organizers should place floor markings in front of the stands to keep social distancing.
  • Activities such as sweeping floors and surfaces with a brush that would generate dust should be avoided.
  • Right after visitors contact products on stands by hand, those products should be disinfected with the products with ‘Biocidal Product License’ by the Ministry of Health.
  • Newspapers, magazines, etc. that are for common use should not be available / offered inside. (Except for the brochures that exhibitors will personally provide with visitors on stands.)
  • Exhibitors should be encouraged to preferably use contactless and non-cash payments where visitors need to make any payment. Surfaces contacted by hand on POS terminals should be cleaned with the products with ‘Biocidal Product License’ by the Ministry of Health.
  • The exhibition organizer should follow the warnings on restaurants, cafeterias, and diners in the “Guide to Outbreak Management and Working” prepared by the Ministry of Health in the food court of the exhibition venue.
  • The exhibition organizer should limit the use of elevators and allow people with one out of three of the capacity to get on, and this number should be indicated at the elevator entrance. Social distancing rules to be at least 1 meter should be followed inside the elevator and indicated with floor markings.
  • The exhibition organizer should display posters on COVID-19 measures (handwashing, mask use, and rules to follow inside) at the exhibition entrance and on visible locations.
Measures for Visitors:
  • The exhibition organizer should remind visitors of the rules with announcements and videos within the context of COVID-19 throughout the exhibition venue.
  • The exhibition organizer should take measures for exhibitors and visitors to follow social distancing at the exhibition venue.
  • The exhibition organizer should not allow visitors to consume food and beverages, excluding water, at the exhibition venue.
Measures for the Protection of Staff Members:

The exhibition organizer and exhibitors should;

  • Refer staff members to a hospital with their masks on in the event that they develop symptoms such as fever, cough, nasal flow, shortness of breath while working.
  • Work staff in shifts to ensure that fewer staff members are concurrently available in the workplace.
  • Promote proper hand hygiene of working staff, which includes washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and if not possible, hands should be rubbed with alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Soaps that contain antiseptics should not be necessarily used and regular soap will be sufficient.
Environmental Cleaning, Disinfection and Ventilation:
  • The exhibition venue should be effectively ventilated through outdoor air. Before the exhibition starts, the exhibition organizer should control if filters of the ventilation system at the exhibition venue are regularly controlled and replaced. Ventilators should not be used at the exhibition venue. “Measures to be Taken for Air Conditioning/Ventilating Systems within the Context of COVID-19” in the ”Guidance to Outbreak Management and Working” by the Ministry of Health should be followed.
  • The exhibition venue should be cleaned by the exhibition organizer regularly every day.
  • Water and soap dispensers in toilets should be equipped with photocells, if possible.
  • Lidded and pedal bins should be available to throw garbage and used masks at the exhibition venue and they should be emptied regularly.
  • Particular attention should be paid to the cleaning of the frequently touched surfaces at the exhibition venue (door handles, handsets, cash registers, computer keyboard, table/counter surfaces frequently contacted by hands and body) and surface sanitizers that comprise of active components and permitted with ‘Biocidal Product License’ by the Ministry of Health should be used at the exhibition venue, stands, and common areas for surface cleaning and disinfection.
  • It should be ensured that the cleaning staff wears a medical mask and gloves. The staff members should take off and dispose of the mask and the gloves at the waste bin after the cleaning is done and wash their hands with water and soap for at least 20 seconds.
  • Hand sanitizers with ‘Biocidal Product License’ by the Ministry of Health should be kept available in toilets.
  • There should be no missing materials in toilets, and liquid soap, toilet papers, and paper towels should always be kept available. The exhibition organizer should take necessary measures about those matters.
  • Hand dryers should not be put into service.
  • The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey or the Chamber and Commodity Exchange assigned by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey inspect if necessary measures have been taken to follow rules at the exhibition venue.