19 July 2021
Who does this notice affect?
All biosecurity industry participants that have Victorian based premises that departmental officers may attend (for inspections, audits, surveillance or other purposes).
What has changed?
With the most recent community transmission of COVID-19 in Victoria, Biosecurity industry participants are again reminded to notify the department if any of their staff (or visitors to their premises) test positive for COVID-19. The notification point is the department’s agriccc@agriculture.gov.au inbox.
As shared duty holders under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, we are required to work together to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of all our workers. This includes steps to manage the risks of COVID-19.
For this reason, I am writing to confirm that we will be taking action and requesting your assistance to help us protect both our people and yours, especially where there is a risk that one or more employees has been confirmed or is potentially infected with COVID-19.
In particular:
- We may seek assurance from you that COVID-19 risks have been mitigated so far as is reasonably practicable prior to and when we arrive at your workplace/s; and
- We require you to:
- notify us immediately by email if any of your employees (or any visitor to your premises) returns a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 – please email us at agriccc@agriculture.gov.au making sure to include “COVID NOTIFICATION” in the subject field of the email;
- ensure that any of your employees who are feeling unwell or are presenting COVID-19 symptoms do not enter our workplaces for any reason; and
- ensure that this messaging is reiterated and adhered to by all employees and any downstream contractors you may engage to deliver your services.
We will in turn notify you and comply with the requirements outlined above if this applies to any of our employees that access your workplace or may have come into contact with your employees in our workplace.
We look forward to continuing to work with you and your people to continue to support and enable our business in a COVIDSafe manner.
Further information
For further general information about this Industry Advice Notice, please contact SE_RegionalManager@agriculture.gov.au
For urgent information relating to this notice, please email agriccc@agriculture.gov.au making sure to include “COVID NOTIFICATION” in the subject field of the email.