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Business owners are being urged to dedicate time each week to ensure they stay up to date with COVID-19 directions, as community transmission cases start to pop up across a number of Australian cities.
It comes as several states have felt it necessary to reintroduce strict measures to help combat the spread of the disease, while domestic border restrictions have again been put in place.
According to Employsure health and safety senior researcher Cathy Nguyen, “these next few weeks will be critical if there is to be a return to a more normal society”.
“Employers need to stay up to date with the latest government public health orders.”
She is advising business owners to “dedicate time each week to visit their relevant government website to see if there has been a change in directions”.
She has also noted that with masks now mandatory for most indoor settings in New South Wales, “so it’s up to employers to enforce that or face fines”.
Ms Nguyen said an effective COVID safety plan will help businesses thrive if they implement it correctly and consistently.
“The plan can include ways to improve personal hygiene and the hygiene of the workplace. Having the correct hand sanitiser, wipes and all the necessary cleaning equipment available to staff is key to slowing the spread,” she said.
Employsure has also flagged that for businesses with staff operating onsite in hotspot areas, employers can choose to stagger start and finish times, reducing bottlenecks of staff in break rooms and keeping them at further distances from each other.
It’s also touting the necessity of safety checklists for business owners who have staff working from home.
“Employers need to check in on staff at home and identify whether they are in a hotspot, whether they are sick, and who they have been in contact with. Knowing which staff members have physically been in the workplace can help avoid a potential infection spread,” Employsure iterated.
Ms Nguyen acknowledged keeping a proper contact-tracing record of who enters and exits a workplace, be it staff or customers, as “essential” for health workers to know where an infection may have originated.
She explained that “this has been one of the most important new tools we’ve seen implemented in Australia that has kept the numbers down compared to countries like the US or UK. In New South Wales, it’s now mandatory for businesses to use a QR code that links to the Service NSW app”.
She concluded that in all circumstances, no matter the industry, “having a plan on how to stop COVID-19 from entering the workplace, and how to contain it if it does, is of the upmost importance”.
“Having the correct combination of hygiene control, record keeping and the most up-to-date health orders will keep workplaces safer, and employers need to remain vigilant,” she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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