Cleaner shuts major Melbourne CBD construction site

A major Melbourne construction site has been closed after a cleaner tested positive for Covid, with almost 200 workers now forced to isolate.

A cleaner has tested positive for coronavirus at a major CBD construction site with 170 workers sent home to isolate.

The positive case has led to the Probuild site at 100 Queen St being shut down for a deep clean.

All staff and subcontractors have been told to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days from the point of exposure regardless of whether they return negative results.

The site was once the global headquarters of ANZ Bank and is currently undergoing a major renovation.

It is unknown whether the positive case will cause other construction sites to shut down, if the cleaner worked across multiple locations.

The patient is the partner of another positive case identified through testing in Craigieburn, who is believed to have picked up the virus at the local shopping centre.

Testing commander Jeroen Weimar said there was now a massive effort under way to track and trace the movements of the new cases, which were a priority for his team.

100 Queen Street Melbourne has been listed as a COVID exposure site and has been closed for a deep clean. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“When we find a new positive case … it all comes down to how active are they in the community? It’s one of the reasons we are in the position we are today,” he said.

“It does mean we have 170 further workplace contacts for the (patient) who are now locked down.

“My thanks to the construction company concerned, the construction industry has worked incredibly hard over the past year or more to put in place really strong workplace controls, workplace recording systems.”

Probuild is currently going through employee records and passing the information to contact tracers.

It is believed to be the first positive case in the construction industry in Victoria since September last year.

The CFMEU said in a statement the employee, a cleaner on the site, had not worked on other sites.

“After receiving a positive result of COVID-19, she contacted her employer,’ the statement said.

“The CFMEU and the construction company Probuild worked together to immediately implement all the safety procedures to mitigate any further cases.”

CFMEU Vic-Tas secretary John Setka said: “Our existing safety plan implemented early 2020

continues to demonstrate that our safety systems are working.”

“One of our representatives contacted DHHS on Friday to inform them of the positive case and that we had already shut down the site and commenced tracing,” Mr Setka said.

All workers identified as being in “close contact” with the diagnosed employee will get tested and wait for results before returning to work.

The remaining workers will return to work after the site has been fully decontaminated.

The necessary procedures to ensure the health and safety of workers have been implemented, including the employment of a hospital-grade specialist cleaning company to perform a thorough on-site decontamination deep clean.