Today, MBV was invited by the Victorian Government to participate in a series of meetings related to our industry’s re-opening.  Some highlights include: 

  • Checklists will be provided for our industry to use, which will be aligned to those being used by “authorised officers”. Non-compliance in our sector is likely to incur penalties and the issue of notices/prohibitions, etc. 
  • The Victorian Government has indicated that there will be a suite of documents available by the end of this week to assist our industry to administer their responsibilities. 

In the meantime, our industry should be looking at ways to set themselves up in preparation for when the Victorian Government allows our sector to re-open, this could include:  

  • Having up to date COVIDSafe plans in place 
  • Ensuring signage is in place with regards to COVIDSafe practices 
  • QR Codes are on site 
  • Considering what supplies can be ordered and delivered to site, recognising deliveries on site must not include installation until our industry is open. 
  • It must also be noted that when our sector is open, delivery drivers will need to be vaccinated if they enter a site. 
  • Sighting and recording a worker’s vaccination record.
  • Ensuring those being appointed as a COVID Marshal have appropriate training.

Metro and Regional Travel and COVID Marshals 
The Victorian Government indicated that they recognise the challenges for workers wanting to travel across regional to metro areas. Changes to these travel limitations are being considered.  

The Government has indicated that smaller sites, like residential sites, may be able to have a site supervisor appointed as a COVID Marshal and these individuals will be permitted to cover multiple sites. The Government considers this as a pragmatic way to address the COVID Marshal situation for small-scale construction. 

Deliveries to Site 
The Government confirmed that deliveries to site (not including installation) when no other workers are on site, is not considered construction activity.  

In addition, kerb side deliveries where a delivery driver does not enter the site is not considered construction work. 

Vaccination Monitoring 
The current COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination Directions have obligations for the site operator to ensure workers enter the site are to be vaccinated unless, they have a medical certificate that exempts the worker from being vaccinated.   

MBV considers that proactive discussions should be held with sub-contractors to ensure that workers sent to site are vaccinated unless they have a medical certificate (exemption). These discussions can better help efficient entry to site and reduce the likelihood of any negative discussions on site if workers are unvaccinated.  

Operators are not obliged to obtain copies of vaccination records; they will be required to make a record that they have sighted a workers vaccination record.  

It is important to note that, if an operator receives copies of a workers record, they have an obligation to appropriately store records that are private or appropriately destroy the records.   

Over the next few weeks, the Government will continue to develop the MyGov app and this will be used to cross-check vaccination status.   

Owner Builders 
An Owner Builder administering the responsibilities as a builder is considered a site operator.  

However, appropriate practices must be adopted, and owner-builders must not work on site unless they have been vaccinated or have a medical exemption.    

Crib Rooms 
The Government is working on solutions for crib rooms to reopen, subject to additional ventilation requirements being included. Further advice will be provided to our industry once the technical requirements have been determined on how the Department of Health wants ventilation to be satisfied.  

As previously mentioned, our re-opening discussions are continuing with the Victorian Government and we will continue to keep members up to date as soon as more information becomes available.