PLANNING TOOL TO HELP BUSINESSES REOPEN

The government’s National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) has released an online planning tool to help businesses develop a plan to keep their workers, customers and the community safe as they reopen or increase their activities in the weeks and months ahead.

The NCCC tool, in the form of a template called “My business’s COVIDSafe plan”, brings together information from across the government on the range of help and assistance available to support businesses. This tool complements the Safe Work Australia website, which is a central source of information for businesses to understand their work health and safety obligations.

The Safe Work site is updated regularly and includes information on:

• What are my duties under WHS law? who do I owe a duty to?, facilities, identify and manage risks, training, emergency plans
• What can I do to keep workers safe? eg health monitoring, physical distancing, hygiene, vulnerable workers, PPE
• Working from home eg mental health, home station set ups, identify and manage risks
• What are my workers’ rights? eg consultation, discrimination, right to stop work
• Cleaning and protection eg how to clean, what to use, PPE masks, gloves
• Mental health looking after yourself and your staff, work related violence, family and domestic violence.

The NCCC says the online planning tool (download it from here) should take about 30 minutes to complete, and says it should leave businesses with a clear idea about what they will do to keep people safe, how they will get their business back up and running and how they might adapt their operating model.

It will also help businesses to plan practical steps such as organising supplies, updating insurance and reactivating subscriptions, and provides links to the assistance available to help them reopen, including help with cash flow, wages and loans.