HTML Preview Workers Safety Sheet page number 1.
What do I need to do to keep my workers
safe and limit the spread of COVID-19?
swa.gov.au/coronavirus
1. Working from home
Where workers can work from
home, they should.
On 29 March, the Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison
MP, advised that all Australians should stay at home,
except for a limited number of reasons. All Australians
are able to leave the home to go to work, however,
employers should allow workers to work from home
wherever and whenever they can.
All employers are also encouraged to consider
alternative ways of delivering their business practices
and services, such as switching to online ordering,
payment and delivery.
If it is not possible to work from home or redesign
practices, it is vital that no worker comes to work if they
have any of the following symptoms: fever, cough, sore
throat, or shortness of breath.
2. Physical distancing
Physical distancing is important because COVID-19
is most likely to spread through close contact with
a person who has a confirmed infection. Physical
distancing means keeping people apart.
Currently, this means keeping
a distance of at least 1.5 metres
betweenpeople.
The likelihood of interactions causing the spread of
COVID-19 is low if physical distancing advice and good
hygiene are followed as the virus is unlikely to be spread
if face- to- face interactions are limited to less than 15
minutes and close proximity interactions are limited to
2hours.
Practical physical distancing examples:
> Queuing strategies – eg marking out spacing on the
floor with tape
> Limiting the amount of people who can enter a store
> Implement contactless deliveries
> Have a responsible person on the work floor for
ensuring everyone is keeping the required distance
from each other
> Move work stations, desks and tables in starooms
further apart
> Bring in shift arrangements so less sta are in the
workplace at once
For further information on physical distancing see the
Australian Government Department of Health.
For industry specific examples, see our industry fact
sheets in the business resource kit.
3. Handwashing and hygiene
COVID-19 is most likely spread from person to
personthrough:
> Direct contact with a person while they are infectious
> Contact with droplets when a person with a
confirmed infection coughs or sneezes, and
> Touching objects or surfaces that are contaminated
by droplets coughed or sneezed from a person with a
confirmed diagnosis.
Good hygiene is necessary to stop the spread.
Thismeans:
> frequent hand washing with soap or hand sanitising,
including before and after you eat and after going to
the bathroom
> limiting contact with others, including through
shaking hands
> stop touching your eyes, nose and face
> covering your mouths while coughing or sneezing
with a clean tissue or your elbow, and
> putting used tissues straight into the bin.
Alcohol based hand sanitisers with greater than 60%
ethanol or 70% isopropanol is the recommended form of
hand hygiene.
If hand sanitiser is unavailable, workers should be
regularly given the opportunity to wash their hands with
soap. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises
that hand washing should take 20-30 seconds. Workers
should ensure the entirety of their hands (palms, fingers
and back of their hands) are covered with soap prior to
washing them with warm water.
This should occur after a worker has had contact with
a customer, as well as after cash transactions. It is
particularly important workers sanitise or wash their
hands before or after touching their face.
Practical good hygiene examples:
> have automatic alerts set up on computer systems
to remind workers about washing hands and not
touching eyes, nose and face
> have hand sanitiser stations on entry and exit points
and around the workplace generally
> cashless transactions
> increase access to closed bins