What are the Public Health Order requirements for my state?

Each state and territory has their own compliance measures set out in the relevant Public Health Order or Direction, which outline the requirements which must be followed in order to operate in a COVID-Safe way.

The Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, recently announced that as of 11:59pm on Wednesday 22 July, people in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will be required to wear a face covering/mask when leaving home for one of the four permitted reasons in the current Stage 3 restrictions. This means that some employees will be required to wear a face mask or covering while they are working. The Premier noted that in some instances, wearing a mask or face covering at work will not be practical. Employers should consult with their employees about what is appropriate for their workplace in order to meet this requirement as part of work health and safety obligations.

At the time of writing, there is limited guidance on this however the following links are useful resources to refer to:

• Worksafe Victoria: https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/safety-alerts/recommendation-wear-face-mask-when-physical-distancing-not-possible
• Department of Health & Human Services Victoria: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/face-masks-covid-19

The table below outlines the operating requirements for businesses in each jurisdiction.

• New South Wales

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Public Health (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) Order (No 4)
  Effective 1 July 2020

  Working from home requirements

  An employer must allow an employee to work from home, if it is reasonably practicable to do so.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  Businesses listed in Schedule 1-Premises requiring COVID-19 Safety Plan, must develop and comply with a COVID-19 Safety Plan that addresses the matters as required by the COVID-19 safety checklist in relation to the type of premises. If no checklist is published for the type of business, a general checklist applies.
  

  A copy of the COVID-19 Safety Plan must be kept on site and be available for inspection by an authorised officer on request.

  Schedule 2-Exempted gatherings are the businesses which do not require a COVID-19 Safety plan.

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises

  Each business must ensure that there is enough space to allow at least 1 person per 4 square metres between each other. Businesses listed in Schedule 2-Exempted gatherings do not need to follow this requirement.
  

  In calculating the space available for each person on any premises and how many people are allowed, staff who are engaged to work on the premises are excluded.

  Record keeping requirements
  

  Customers or clients who attend a business for a service, or customers who consume food or drink at restaurants or cafes, must provide their contact details to the business.
  

  The business must keep the contact information for at least 4 weeks and provide these records to the Chief Health Officer on request.

• Victoria

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Restricted Activity Directions (Restricted Areas) (No 3)
  Effective 11:59pm on 22 July until 16 August.

  These restrictions will apply to persons and businesses that reside in the ‘restricted area’ which is defined in clause 4 of the Area Directions (No 4).

  Persons and businesses in Victoria, which reside or operate outside of the restricted area will be subject to the Restricted Activity Directions (No 14).

  Working from home requirements

  An employer is required to permit an employee to work from home where it is reasonably practicable for them to do so, or another suitable premises.

  An employer must take reasonable steps to ensure that employees who reside in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire wear a face covering when they are working at the employer’s premises.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  The various directions in Victoria do not appear to require businesses to have COVID-19 safety plans in place.

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises

  There are density requirements in place which means that there can only be one person per 4 square metres.

  Record keeping requirements

  A business must request that each person who attends their workplace for more than 15 minutes provides their first name and contact number.
  

  These records must include the time and date the person attended and the space that they were in, if there are multiple indoor spaces.

  The records should be protected from disclosure (other than to a health officer), kept for 28 days and destroyed as soon as reasonably practicable after 28 days.

• Queensland

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction (No 4)
  Effective 10 July 2020

  Working from home requirements

  There is no requirement for people to stay at home or any reference to working from home.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  A restricted business (those listed in paragraph 17) in Queensland may operate in accordance with the COVID Safe Framework (see paragraph 8) where there is an Approved COVID Safe Industry Plan.
  

  COVID Safe checklists will apply where is no Approved Plan or, where a business elects not to operate under a plan, for a maximum of 50 people.

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises

  A restricted business must have no more than one person per 2 square metres (up to a total of 50 people) for venues or spaces of 200 square metres or less or no more than 1 person per 4 square metres for venues or spaces of 200 square metres or more.
  

  The 2 or 4 square metre requirement applies to areas of the business that are open to the public.

  Record keeping requirements
  

  Restricted businesses must keep contact information about all guests and staff for contact tracing purposes for a period of 56 days. This information must include: name, phone number, email address and the date and time of patronage. This information must be provided to public health officers on request, and must be securely stored, not used for any other purpose and destroyed after 56 days.
  

  Non-restricted businesses may operate as normal, with physical distancing observed.

• South Australia

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Emergency Management (Public Activities No 4) (COVID-19) Direction 2020
  Effective 9 July 2020

  Working from home requirements

  No reference to working from home.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  COVID-Safe Plans will be required for defined public activities. Defined public activities are listed in clause 12 of the Order.
  

  A business which is a defined public activity must not operate until they have completed a COVID Safe Plan available at www.covid-19.sa.gov.au

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises

  The density requirement of 1 person per 2 square metres still applies for defined public activities.
  

  The SA Government have a calculator (found under “Need help?” on this website - https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/recovery/create-a-covid-safe-plan) where businesses can enter the dimensions of a room or space in metres, to find out the area and the maximum number of people allowed.

  Record keeping requirements
  

  The businesses required to keep records (time and date of activity, name, phone number or email address of each person attending) for contact tracing are: gaming machine venues, indoor fitness classes, indoor public meetings, personal care services, ceremonies, auctions and inspections of premises for the purpose of sale or rental, provision of recreational transport and driver instruction.

• Western Australia

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Closure and Restriction (Limit the Spread) Directions (No 5)
  Effective 26 June 2020

  Working from home requirements

  There are currently no requirements to work from home.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  Re-opening requirements apply to businesses that were previously required to shut down as a result of state of emergency directions. These must be met before the business will be permitted to reopen.
  

  The re-opening requirements include:

  • Completing a Safety Plan; and
  • Displaying a Safety Plan Certificate in a prominent place

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises

  As of 26 June 2020, the number of persons permitted in a single space is dictated by the 2 square metre rule (i.e. a maximum of one person per 2 square metres). Staff are not included in this calculation unless the venue holds greater than 500 persons.

  Record keeping requirements

  Businesses must maintain a register of contact information for contact tracing purposes, and the information must be kept for 28 days.
  

  The information should include the name, contact number and date and time of the visit.

  This record keeping requirement has been preserved from a previously revoked direction – Closure and Restriction (Limit the Spread) Directions (No 4)

• Tasmania

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Direction under Section 16 (Workplace COVID Plan – No. 1)
  Effective 15 June 2020

  Working from home requirements

  There are no specific requirements to work from home.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  All businesses in Tasmania are required to complete a COVID-19 Safety Plan.
  

  The plans are required to deal with matters relating to the elimination or mitigation of risk posed by the disease, so far as is reasonably practicable. The minimum standards, templates for the plans and more are available here.

  A fact sheet on the plans is available here.

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises
  

  The maximum number of people is determined by the 4 square metre rule.

  Record keeping requirements

  Worksafe Tasmania has created a set of minimum standards which apply to all businesses.
  

  Those minimum standards require that workplaces keep records ‘that would assist with notifying people who enter/leave the workplace of any potential exposure to Covid-19’. Records must be kept for a period of 21 days.

• Australian Capital Territory

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  Public Health (Restricted Activities – Gatherings, Business or Undertakings) Emergency Direction 2020 (No 5)
  Effective 11:59pm 20 July 2020

  Working from home requirements

  There are currently no enforceable restrictions relating to working from home. However, the ACT Covid website does state that working from home is still encouraged at this time.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  Some businesses are required to develop and maintain COVID-19 safety plans – please see clause 16 of the Order.

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises

  Attachment A of the Direction notes that in any given occupied space, the maximum number of persons permitted is regulated by the 4 square metre rule. There is no upper limit at this time.

  Record keeping requirements

  Non-essential businesses or undertakings (as defined in the direction) must ask for the first name and contact phone number of each person who attends the workplace. The affected businesses are noted in clause 16. There is no stated time limit as to how long the information should be maintained.

• Northern Terrirory

  State/Territory & Order/Direction

  COVID-19 Directions (No 36) 2020 – Directions for Safety Measures at Reopened Places, Businesses, Activities, Services and Premises
  Effective 5 June 2020

  Working from home requirements

  There are currently no enforceable restrictions relating to working from home.

  COVID-Safe plan requirements

  Businesses that experienced a closure as a result of previous directions are required to complete and submit a Covid-19 Safety Plan Checklist (direction 5) before resuming business.
  

  Please note that despite the above, the Northern Territory Government Roadmap contains contradictory information. Statements on the page suggests that businesses which were not required to close as a result of directions issued by the CHO are still required to submit a Covid-19 Safety Plan Checklist.

  Maximum number of people permitted on the premises
  

  There is no longer any limit on how many people can be in a single undivided space. However, public events and gatherings still have limits on how many people may attend. Further information can be found here.

  Record keeping requirements

  There are currently no record keeping requirements imposed on businesses.

Further advice or assistance

For further advice or assistance on this topic, or any workplace relations matter, Employment Plus clients who have placed two or more candidates have free access to the Ai Group Workplace Advice Line.

Call 1300 862 217 8:30am-5:15pm AEST Monday to Friday.

The information contained in this article is correct at the time of writing (11:00am on 23 July) and does not constitute legal advice. Changes to rules and Public Health Orders are changing frequently, so it is recommended that employers check with their local state/territory health department for up-to-date information.