Restriction Changes for Victorian Construction Workers

In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 amongst construction workers on site, the Victorian Government has released new restrictions for all construction workers as of the 16th of September 2021.

Most importantly, by 11:59pm on Thursday the 23rd of September, anyone who attends a construction site must have had the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination. This rule applies to any construction site, regardless of size, and applies to the following workers:

• All construction workers.
• Subcontractors.
• Union officials.
• WorkSafe, Victorian Building Authority (VBA) or others who attend for the purposes of Occupational Health and Safety, or other compliance and enforcement activities.
• Building owners and delivery workers who attend on site.

Limited exemptions may be granted for those who can provide evidence that they are booked in for their first dose of a vaccine, or if they have a medical exception.

The Victorian Government is also offering construction workers priority access to get vaccinated. These priority bookings are only available until Friday 17 September, so it is important to book as soon as possible.

You can book by calling the Coronavirus hotline on 1800 675 398 or visiting the portal here.

Walk up vaccinations are also available for construction workers every day until next Sunday the 26th of September. The Ford Campbellfield site, the Heidelberg Repat, Eagle Stadium in Wyndham and the former Bunnings in Melton will be open for walk ups for construction workers from 8am until 11am.

Another new restriction is that construction workers are now not allowed to cross the metropolitan-regional boundary for work. This means that sites in metropolitan Melbourne will not allow regional Victorian workers on site and vice versa. This rule does not apply to delivery drivers who deliver supplies to construction sites. If you would like a detailed map of what council areas are considered to be part of metropolitan Melbourne, you can view one here.

Finally, all construction sites must adhere to worker shift bubbles and have a COVID marshal on site at all times. Tea rooms must also be closed and no food or drink is to be consumed indoors on a site. If you would like to find out further information about the new restrictions, you can visit the Vic Gov website page here. If you also need a compliant COVID safe report template for your workplace, you can download our FREE template from our template store by following this link.