The Victorian Government has been accused of disregarding practical safety advice for its "roadmap" out of COVID-19 restrictions. Under the plan, 100,000 workers could be permitted to return to worksites within three weeks, but many employees will still be required to work from home up to and during the "last step", tentatively scheduled to commence on 23 November.
The COVID-19 pandemic and changes forced on employers have given safety professionals a unique opportunity to redesign work practices to eliminate sources of harm, Australian occupational health experts say. Meanwhile, Victoria has extended its state of disaster for COVID-19.
Employers will be permitted to direct employees to perform duties at home or another place outside of the usual workplace providing that place is safe and appropriate, under a draft model flexibility schedule driven by the risk of further COVID-19 outbreaks.
Workers on the coronavirus frontline need retraining on using, storing and disposing of personal protective equipment, and to head off the potentially unsafe impulse to "rush in and help", according to a US "COVID-19 taskforce".
Suicide rates are expected to increase by 40 per cent in the next decade from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and employers are being urged to consider the role they will play in suicide prevention and managing emotional conversations.
Australian researchers have called for the long-term use of rigorous occupational hygiene measures and working-from-arrangements to reduce the risk of a resurgence of COVID-19, while paid pandemic leave schemes have been introduced in two more states, providing a financial incentive not to attend work while infectious.
The proportion of COVID-19 infections in healthcare staff attributed to work has surged from 22 per cent in Victoria's first wave of infections to at least 69 per cent in the second wave, according to a new report, which says tea rooms and old ventilation systems are partly to blame.
The Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of a worker for coughing in the face of a nurse checking his temperature before the start of a shift, at a time when strict COVID-19-related hygiene requirements were being rolled out across Australia.
