Business owners have had a mixed bag in the first few days of the traffic light system, with WorkSafe having received some concerns.
For many, the new way of working under the Covid Protection Framework has been quieter than hoped.
“Typically, we'd do two three sittings on a Friday, Saturday night. This weekend, we only did one,” Adrian Loy from Auckland's New York Grill said.
“What our normal trade would've been, it's been down,” Darren Tolley from Baha Betty in Auckland added.
The Restaurant Association surveyed 145 members about their experiences in the new framework, including the use of vaccine passes.
Of that number, 40 per cent reported issues with rude or aggressive customers; 45 per cent said customers did not understand the rules; and 20 per cent said they experienced problems with the vaccine certificate verifier app.
However, 27 per cent said the process was seamless.
“Everybody that came in understood that they had to show the passes and they were showing their passes before we even had to prompt them,” Tolley said.
While Auckland is at Red, Wellingtonians have been happy with the switch from Alert Level 2 to Orange.
“The whole vibe changed. All of a sudden, you're up, you're moving around, you can mingle a little bit more,” Wellington bar Dockside’s Conrad Banks said.
But there are concerns around compliance, including people providing fake vaccine passes and businesses failing to check them.
“Of course we will have examples where someone may not have been asked or they may be concerned about whether or not its rules are being followed. That's not unexpected and as those arise, we will work through them,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday’s post-Cabinet media conference.
It includes asking officials to work on a system that will give customers a place to report businesses that are not complying with the rules.
Banks said the majority of Dockside’s customers were well-behaved but for some, it’s taking time for them to get used to the vaccine verifier app.
“Just training dogs to use new tricks,” he said.
WorkSafe told 1News in a statement that it is working alongside industry bodies and businesses to “ensure they have the processes and systems in place to support compliance with the requirements of the Covid-19 Protection Framework”.
“WorkSafe has received some concerns over the weekend and we are working our way through reviewing and triaging these for response.
“Information from these reported breaches will help us see areas where understanding and practice might not be up to standard; whether that's geographic or sector-based, and this will allow us to target our proactive activities in the future.”
WorkSafe said it will use an “’educate first’ approach” towards businesses reportedly breaking the new rules.
“If a business or service then fails to make the changes we expect to see, we'll consider taking enforcement action.”
Anyone with concerns has been urged to report it on the Unite Against Covid-19 website.
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