• Authorised worker permits now available
• Clarity on construction site capacity constraints
• Advocacy win: early-stage development sites will be able to operate with up 10 workers per hectare
As outlined in yesterday’s UDIA Victoria Industry Alert, metropolitan Melbourne’s lockdown has been extended and strengthened. The strengthened restrictions commenced from 11:59pm last night.
Late last night the Government published further guidance relevant to our industry.
AUTHORISED WORKER PERMITS
Authorised workers will be required to carry permits when working, and when travelling for work, from 11:59pm on Tuesday August 17.
Each employee required to be on site must receive an individual worker permit with the required details. Permits are now available on the Victorian Government’s coronavirus website.
Employers must:
1. Download the template from this page and fill it out.
- Employers must use this template for all worker permits issued.
2. Sign the worker permit. You can print and sign or sign it electronically.
- Businesses must have an authorised person to sign the worker permit. This person might be the CEO, a HR manager, an operations manager or anyone else that is suitable.
- They must be accountable for the details they provide.
- They may be contacted by Victoria Police or other enforcement agencies to confirm the details.
3. Ask the employee to sign the worker permit. They can print and sign or sign electronically.
- You can email or text the worker permit to your employee.
- An employee may travel to work without a worker permit once to get their first permit.
An authorised worker may carry a printout or an electronic copy of a permit when undertaking the permitted activity and when traveling to and from the destination at which the permitted activity takes place.
Completing this a worker permit with false or misleading information may cause you to be in breach of the Chief Health Officer’s Workplace Directions and liable to penalties up to $21,808.80 (individuals) and $109,044 (bodies corporate).
Visit the Government’s authorised worker permit site here.
CONSTRUCTION SITE CAPACITY
This afternoon’s announcement said that from 11:59pm tonight construction activity on “large-scale” sites would be capped at 25 per cent, or five (5) workers, whichever is greater.
The Government has since clarified the caps on workers that will apply across different types of sites and, in a major advocacy win, early-stage land development projects will be able to operate with up to 10 workers per hectare.
The caps on workers will apply as follows:
- Large-scale construction sites – 25 per cent of site capacity or 5 workers per site, whichever is greater.
- Small-scale construction sites – 5 workers per site.
- Early-stage land development project – 10 workers per hectare.
A large-scale construction site is a site:
- permitted to be (at completion) more than three storeys high (excluding basement)
- larger than 1,500sqm floor size
- that is an office or retail fit-out; or
- that is industrial, large-format or retail use.
An early-stage land development project comprises all civil works undertaken on open air, large greenfield sites that are associated with and preparatory to construction of multiple individual residential dwellings or industrial or commercial development on that site. This includes site remediation and site preparation works, construction of utilities and roads, bridges, stormwater/flood management works and trunk infrastructure.
For residential developments, once subdivision occurs, the construction of that dwelling on a part of the site is regarded as a small-scale construction project. For large-scale residential development (i.e. retirement villages) with a single entity responsible for construction, once dwellings are commenced, it will be considered large scale construction. In relation to early-stage land development for industrial or commercial development, once construction of a building, warehouse or physical structure has commenced, it will be considered a large-scale construction site.
Further information and an extensive list of FAQs can be found on the Government’s Coronavirus Construction Sector Guidance website.
PLEASE NOTE
UDIA Victoria circulates direction provided to us by Government to assist members make decisions and form their own view about how this applies to their business.
Through our engagement with Government, we seek the information and answers we know our industry wants and needs, however we do not always receive the clarity that our industry would like.
We will always communicate the information we obtain from Government in the clearest and most accurate way possible for our members. However, it is incumbent on our members to take this information and seek further clarity from the Victorian Government if you are unsure about anything.
