The Victorian Government has recently amended the definition of ‘close contacts’, ‘exposed persons’ and ‘social contact’ and introduced mandatory COVID-19 booster shots for workers in specific industries. Employers should be aware of these new requirements and ensure that their workers comply with any relevant orders before attending the workplace.
‘Close contacts’, ‘exposed persons’ and ‘social contacts’
The current Victorian Government orders contain different rules for people who are close contacts, exposed persons and social contacts. The rules that apply to each category are set out in the Testing Requirements for Contacts and Exposed Persons.
A person is considered a ‘close contact’ if they have spent more than 4 hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house, accommodation or care facility, or if the DHHS otherwise deems them a close contact. A 7 day quarantine is mandatory for people within this category.
There are exemptions for specific classes of workers who are close contacts. This includes the following class of workers:
- care workers
- critical food industry distribution workers
- custodial workers
- education workers
- emergency service workers
- funeral workers
- healthcare workers
- pharmacy workers
- port or freight workers
- transport workers
- utility and urban workers
The exemption only allows the worker to attend work if they cannot work from home and subject to some further obligations. When they are not at the workplace, they must otherwise comply with all quarantine requirements.
The ‘exposed person’ and ‘social contact’ categories include people who are not close contacts, but have spent at least 15 minutes face-to-face, or 2 hours indoors, with an actual or probable COVID-19 case at a workplace or education facility, or in a social setting.
There are no mandatory obligations on exposed persons or social contacts for testing or quarantining unless the contact suffers from any symptoms, in which case they must either use a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), or undertake a PCR test if they cannot access a RAT. Using a RAT is still recommended for all exposed persons and social contacts, regardless of symptoms.
Despite the above, some employers may consider imposing their own requirements on workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 before they return to the workplace, based on their own requirements.
Booster Shots
The Victorian Government has also mandated a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccination for the following classes of workers in order to continue working outside their home:
- residential Aged Care Facility workers
- healthcare workers
- disability workers
- education workers
- custodial workers
- emergency services workers
- meat and seafood processing workers
- quarantine accommodation workers
- food processing and distribution workers (excluding retail)
Booster shot deadlines vary depending on the type of worker and some exceptions apply.
Employers of the workers above, who may work outside their home, must collect information about the worker’s COVID-19 vaccination booster status. If the worker does not receive a booster shot once the booster shot deadline passes, their employer must not allow the worker to work outside their home unless an exception applies.
How we can help?
If you require assistance in complying with these health orders or understanding if these health orders apply to your business, our Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety Team has been helping employers across a range of sectors to introduce vaccination requirements, and manage employees who cannot or will not be vaccinated. We have prepared a range of documents and template communications which can assist with this process.
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