After a fortnight-long closure, the Victorian government has announced how the state’s construction industries will reopen on Tuesday with up to 25 per cent capacity of workers.
But the road to full capacity is a slow one and there are different rules depending on what type of construction is involved.
Here’s what we know about the rules and the timeline.
Construction workers must be vaccinated
Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan made clear that any construction worker who wants to return to work must be first-dose vaccinated to be on site by Tuesday.
A dedicated and fully trained “COVID marshal” will be responsible for making sure their workers have had at least one dose of the vaccine and compliance checks from authorised officers will be made to ensure everyone is following the rules.
The dedicated COVID marshal must be in place, but can be an existing worker who has been trained rather than an additional staff member.
Workers who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to travel between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria to work on site.
Workers on critical state projects or large-scale construction will also be allowed to cross between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria if they are first-dose vaccinated and take a COVID-19 test before they first cross the border, and then test twice a week until they are fully vaccinated.
All on-site workers must be fully vaccinated by November 13.
Can construction on my house begin?
Yes, from Tuesday all sectors of the construction industry can get back on the tools, but there are limits on the number of people allowed on site.
For small-scale construction such as residential construction, only five workers and a site supervisor are allowed on site.
Construction on greenfield developments can return with 20 workers per hectare.
Projects on the State Critical Infrastructure list are allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity. Ms Allan said this was because most of those sites were outdoors.
Large-scale commercial construction can return with 25 per cent of the workforce.
That can be increased to 50 per cent of the workforce provided:
- all workers are fully vaccinated
- crib rooms meet best-practice guidelines on enhanced cleaning, additional ventilation and density requirements
Ms Allan said large-scale construction sites could return to 100 per cent capacity once Victoria reached its 70 per cent double-dose threshold, and caps would be lifted completely when the state reached its 80 per cent double-dose target.
Are the unions on board?
Essentially yes, but they are calling for a few additional measures.
The Building Industry Group of Unions issued a statement welcoming the announcement.
The group said the reopening included several of its recommendations,…
Read More: Victoria’s construction industry is reopening after a two-week closure.