WA Fishing and Aquaculture workers mandatory vaccination requirements
WA’s mandatory vaccination rules outline specific deadlines for workers to be fully vaccinated to attend work in the event of a lockdown or similar restrictions.
The lockdown vaccination requirement will likely be managed on a case-by-case basis, which means no Public Health Order or Directions will be implemented until a lockdown or similar restriction is announced.
The deadline for all staff vaccinations is now. If you wait until a lockdown is announced it may be too late to do anything about the vaccination status of your staff.
Fishing and aquaculture businesses need to be proactive now so they know how many staff are vaccinated and, therefore, whether they can continue operating in the event of a snap lockdown.
How do I get prepared in case there is a lockdown?
You need to understand the vaccination status of your workforce now so that in the event of a lockdown you can provide health authorities with an accurate record.
This will also allow you to assess whether you have enough vaccinated staff to maintain your operations.
Suggested initial steps:
- Notify affected employees, in writing, of their requirement to be vaccinated to attend work in the event of a lockdown;
- Ask employees to disclose their vaccination status, preferably in writing.
- Employers will also be required to take steps to ensure that unvaccinated workers do not attend the workplace in the event of a lockdown or similar restrictions.
Employers need to be aware of their obligations under the relevant privacy legislation to ensure that this information is only used for the purpose of complying with the WA Government requirement and that all reasonable steps are taken to prevent unauthorised access, misuse or loss of this information. More on this can be found here.
A guide on public health orders can be found here.