SafeWork Australia has released the following guidelines to inform PCBUs in the event that a contractor or employee is suspected of having COVID-19.
- Isolate: Remove the person from others. SafeWork Australia recommends giving the person a surgical mask, if possible.
- Inform: Tell health authorities by calling the national COVID-19 hotline on 1800 020 080, and follow the advice of health officials. Depending on your situation, the authorities could give you specific advice.
- Transport: Workplaces should make sure the person has transport, either to their home or to a medical facility.
- Clean: The area where the person has been working and all the places they have been should be cleaned. This may mean evacuating those areas. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should be used when cleaning.
- Identify: Find out who at the workplace had close contact with the infected person recently, up to 24 hours before they first started experiencing symptoms.
Close contact means anyone who has been face-to-face for at least 15 minutes with the infected person or has been in the same space as them for two hours.
Those employees should be sent home to isolate. If the infected worker had contact with large parts of the workplace, all employees may have to self-isolate for 14 days.
- Clean: The areas where these people have been should also be cleaned, this could involve the evacuation of these areas and cleaners should also use PPE.
- Review: The workplace should review the way it controls the risks of COVID-19 and decide whether work may need to change, with employees kept up to date on what is happening and on the appropriate safety procedures.