Do you have a COVID-19 compliant workplace?
Although dropping, the NT is still recording over 150 new COVID cases every day. People are still needing to go to hospital and, sadly, over 50 deaths have been recorded. While the threat appears to have reduced, it is still something we need to be planning for.
This is particularly so in the workplace. Let’s look at two examples:
Employee –
If you come into contact with vulnerable people, your workplace poses a high risk of infection or you perform work that is necessary for the operation or maintenance of essential infrastructure or logistics in the NT, then you are required to have been “fully vaccinated” by Friday, 22 April 2022. At present, this means having received 3 vaccination doses.
To comply, it is important to understand who a vulnerable person is. This term has been defined as a person who:
is under five years of age
has a certificate issued by the Commonwealth that certifies that they have a permanent or temporary contraindication to all approved COVID-19 vaccines
is at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 for medical reasons, such as being immunocompromised or suffering from chronic illnesses
An employee is only exempt from the requirement to have a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine if they are under the age of 18 or they have a certificate issued by the Commonwealth that certifies they have a permanent or temporary medical contraindication to all approved COVID-19 vaccines.
The penalty for failing to abide by the Chief Health Officer Directions issued under section 56 of the Public and Environment Health Act 2011 is $5024 for an individual (32 penalty units) and $25,120 for a business (160 penalty units).
Employer –
If you are an employer, the responsibility rests with you to collect information about an employee’s vaccination status. Once collected, you must keep a register of it and the evidence given to you to demonstrate that status. Examples of evidence include, but are not limited to:
Vaccination certificate
Commonwealth contraindication certificate
PCR test result
Online positive RAT declaration.
It is important to ensure both these steps are taken as these records may be requested by an authorised officer. Please note that while you must sight evidence and keep a register, a copy of the employee’s vaccination certificate or immunisation history does not need to be stored or filed.
If an employee tests positive, they must isolate immediately for at least seven (7) days from the day the test was taken. On the other hand, if an employee is a close contact, the rules have now been relaxed. Provided that the employee is up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, having had at least three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, then they do not need to isolate if they are a close contact. However, they will have to follow a testing regime and wear a mask in specific circumstances.
For further detailed information on COVID-19 please see https://coronavirus.nt.gov.au/
Please feel free to call James Burke or Adam Stencel on (08) 8941 6355 or email james@bowden-mccormack.com.au or adam@bowden-mccormack.com.au should you wish to discuss any dispute resolution or employment issues.