COVID-19: Health and Safety obligations for essential workers…

All persons conducting a business or enterprise (PCBUs) are required to keep their employees, customers or anyone else who they do business with, safe from harm. 

Employers who are operating essential business are allowed to remain open and operational in spite of the Level 4 restrictions currently in place, but PCBUs need to do so only if they can remove or mitigate the risks of spreading COVID-19.

Examples of measure that can be put in place include things like:

• Installing clear barriers;
  
  
• Enforcing physical distancing guidelines (between staff and from those who are attending the business premises);
  
  
• Providing personal protective equipment (PPE);
  
  
• Increasing the frequency of cleaning (especially on high contact surfaces like counters and eftpos machines);
  
  
• Providing handwashing facilities and hand sanitisers (for staff and those who attend the business);
  
  
• Using contactless payment, ordering and delivery systems;
  
  
• Limiting the amount and duration of any contact between employees and other individuals (for instance by restricting the amount of people within the business premise at any time, and also preventing crowding outside the premise);
  
  
• Staggering breaks so that employees do not crowd in the lunch room;
  
  
• Moving desks or other workspaces further apart;
  
  
• Letting employees work remotely;
  
  
• Requiring some employees to not attend work (especially if they are at higher risk of suffering more severely from the effects of contracting COVID-19; and
  
  
• Implementing split shifts to reduce the number of employees in the premise at any one time.

To read more about letting vulnerable employees take leave, check out our advice on the Essential Workers Leave Scheme.

Read more about assistance available to business who have been financially impacted by COVID-19.

More information about Essential Services and for information about health and safety obligations to employees who are working from home.
 

Leading law firms committed to helping clients cost-effectively will have a range of fixed-priced Initial Consultations to suit most people’s needs in quickly learning what their options are.  At Rainey Collins we have an experienced team who can answer your questions and put you on the right track.

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