Understanding COVID-19 risks in your workplace
Employers have obligations to ensure the health and safety of workers and others.
They must have a plan on what will be done to protect and support workers, and health and safety representatives (HSRs) must be consulted on this plan.
A factors that make protecting workers from contracting Covid-19 difficult include is the fact that the virus is transmitted from infected people who may have no symptoms or before they develop symptoms i.e. they don’t know they are infected.
Employers/PCBUs are legally required to consult with workers and their HSRs when identifying hazards at work and applying and reviewing control measures. Improving methods to prevent the spread of Covid-19 will be much more effective when workers and their HSRs are asked for input and those ideas are considered.
Your health and safety rights
Every worker has the right to healthy and safe work. Elected Health and Safety Representatives [HSRs] also have powers and rights under health and safety law.
If you feel immediately unsafe at work, you can stop the unsafe work – but you must be available for other safe duties. Before taking this action, talk to your union delegate and HSR.
The best way to prevent harm
As with any other risk, employers/PCBUs must consider how to implement the most reliable ways to prevent harm.
This should involve the application of the hierarchy of controls, which requires priority to be placed on the elimination of hazards, or isolation of people from exposure to harm where possible, with lower order administrative controls which focus on individual worker behaviours or the application of PPE, only applied where higher order controls are not possible.
Elimination and substitution
Isolation – this is where the hazard and workers are isolated from each other. The intent of physical distancing is to limit person to person contact.
Working remotely – this may be working from home or working at a different location where there are fewer people and it is easier to implement the distance of 1.5 metres between people. These options are likely to require the lengthening of time to carry out tasks, e.g. reducing the number of people working on any one task at a time.
Physical distancing – this will not be practicable for many workers, e.g. frontline workers caring or working with people or where task or safety requirements require more than one-person, e.g. equipment operation, confined space entry, working at heights etc. In most of these circumstances, control measures will rely on infection control measures through changing the way people work and the use of personal protective gear.
Limiting face-to-face contact is essential in preventing the spread of the virus. Essential precautions are physical distancing and good ventilation. Employers/PCBU’s should consider and review a combination of the following controls:
Engineering controls
- Use equipment which increases the distance between people or decreases the time that people must be close together – without introducing other safety hazards
- Good indoor ventilation is essential. Improved air circulation is important e.g open windows or increased outdoor intake for air-conditioning systems intake. In some settings, like health care, negative air pressure rooms and other forms of specialist ventilation systems are necessary. See below.
- Minimise close contact with colleagues, customers and clients including minimising cash transactions and the need to exchange paperwork and other materials.
Improve ventilation
As Covid-19 is spread by breathing in contaminated air, clean air inside a building is essential. There are several ways to improve air quality eg:
- increase the amount of outside air by opening windows,
- for air conditioning systems, increase the air exchange rate which is the measure of the number of times the air inside a building gets replaced with air from outside in an hour and
- if it’s not possible to do either of these things use of a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter.
The actual air exchange rate will depend upon on number of people and size of the area. For health care settings there are specific ventilation requirements for isolation rooms, including negative pressure rooms.
CO2 levels can be used to estimate whether the air in a room is stale and potentially full of particles containing the Covid-19. The outside air we breathe is about 300-500 ppm of CO2. The indoor CO2 level is an indicator of how much fresh air is circulating. CO2 is not a measure of whether there is any virus in the air.
Ventilation exhaust outlets need to be avoided, as people will breathe in contaminated air – as a minimum use warning signs if exhaust outlets are near pedestrian areas. Expert assistance is required to ensure that air exchange ratesand filtration systems remove contaminants, limit the circulation of contaminated airand keep levels of CO2 down.
Cleaning and disinfection
- Improve and increase cleaning especially of shared areas, facilities like washrooms and meal areas, tools and equipment, all hard surfaces. This should include in between shifts or where new workers are entering an area
- Additional pop-up handwashing stations or facilities, providing soap, water and Health Department approved hand sanitiser in as many spots as possible
- All workers must be given the time and access to the facilities and equipment needed to protect themselves and others.
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Depending on the work this will include eye protection, respiratory protection, clothing, gloves etc. Protective equipment must not be shared between people and as much as possible not reused. Proper cleaning of PPE is essential.
If possible, don’t wear work clothes home. Never shake out clothing before placing in the washing machine and use the hot/warm wash cycle. Employers should provide laundering facilities for workers to wash uniforms, especially where close contact with others has occurred in the workplace.
Are you already a union member?
Reach out to your union for more specific information about how you and your workmates can make the most of your rights at work.
Not yet a member?
Joining your union is the most powerful decision you can make to protect your rights at work.