Sydney’s construction restrictions will be eased from Wednesday but workers from the city’s hardest-hit local government areas (LGAs) must be vaccinated before they’re allowed on-site.
Unoccupied construction sites across Greater Sydney, including the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour, will reopen at 50 per cent capacity, with enhanced COVIDSafe measures, a NSW Government statement said.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, Industry and Trade John Barilaro said unoccupied construction sites will resume work with new worksite capacity limits and introduce minimum vaccination requirements for workers from the eight affected LGAs including Blacktown, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool and Parramatta.
“We want workers back on the tools, but we need to continue to keep this virus at bay, and so by opening unoccupied worksites at 50 per cent capacity and vaccinating workers from within those affected LGAs, we can achieve both,” Mr Barilaro said.
“Construction workers from the affected LGAs will be added to the list of authorised workers allowing them to work on unoccupied construction sites in Greater Sydney if they meet the vaccination conditions.”
Construction workers from affected LGAs must provide evidence that they have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, or one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at least three weeks before attending work.
Also, if they have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and, if less than three weeks since that vaccine was administered, a negative COVID-19 test in the previous 72 hours.
Construction workers will be prioritised at a special clinic at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday, August 15, Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres said. The government hopes 8000 workers will be jabbed that day.
NSW is currently trialling rapid antigen testing and when approved by NSW Health, that form of testing may be used as an alternative to a negative PCR test.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said construction was critical to the state’s economy and employed hundreds of thousands of workers.
“Construction has helped maintain our strong economy throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, but many of our projects and workers are located within the eight affected local government areas,” Perrottet said.
“For the industry to remain viable, we need to restart those projects and get construction workers where they are most needed. But we also need to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission to keep our communities safe, and these measures will help us achieve that balance.”
These changes will take effect at the beginning of Wednesday 11 August. In the meantime, construction workers in the affected LGAs are urged to get their vaccination shot if they have not already done so.
Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott told Network Ten the decision showed the government was “listening, pragmatic and working to get the state back on track as fast as possible”.
Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW CEO Steve Mann said the approach was “more durable” given the likelihood of LGAs moving in and out of different levels of restrictions.
“The construction industry directly or indirectly impacts one in four jobs in NSW and this decision is crucial for our economy,” Mr Mann said.
Operators can help their workers find out more information about the vaccines by directing them to the Department of Health website.
Exemptions will be in place for individuals with medical or other conditions that make vaccination unsuitable.
Meanwhile, in Victoria, which is currently going through its sixth lockdown since the beginning of the pandemic, construction has been allowed to continue during the lockdown for unoccupied premises and new builds. COVIDSafe requirements are still in place in Victoria, with cleaning, signage and record keeping required for all facilities with on-site operations.
In Queensland, where a south-east Queensland lockdown ended today but a new three-day snap lockdown was introduced for Cairns and Yarrabah areas from today, commercial construction has been allowed to continue at unoccupied premises. The Department of Energy and Public Works has advised that where construction was on a site that was or included a home residence or business, essential building and construction works could continue.
Current Work Health and Safety laws apply to all states across the country. Workplaces have a duty to eliminate or if not possible, minimise, so far as is reasonably practicable, the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace.
South Australia, which underwent a seven-day state-wide lockdown in July, undertook a partial lockdown approach where only essential state infrastructure projects were allowed to resume work during the lockdown.
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