Major crackdown on businesses breaching Melbourne’s coronavirus restrictions
Businesses across Melbourne will be targeted in a major blitz to catch workplaces breaching strict coronavirus rules. The crackdown comes as concerning new data shows how many outbreaks are linked to work sites.
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Hundreds of police and workplace inspectors will blitz businesses across Melbourne to enforce coronavirus rules in a bid to head off another wave of infections.
The major escalation in the fight against COVID-19 comes as new figures show 80 per cent of outbreaks are now linked to workplaces, a massive increase since May.
Under the WorkSafe and Victoria Police crackdown inspectors will focus on 1.5m distancing and hygiene rules and grill staff about why they need to be at a work site, while bosses face on-the-spot fines of almost $10,000 for breaches.
High risk industries are likely to be targeted heavily, including those where cases have already been identified.
Workplace Safety Minister Jill Hennessy said: “This inspection blitz will identify any workplaces who are not meeting the high standards necessary to keep their employees safe”.
“There is no room to cut corners or be complacent. Workplaces need to take every step possible to maintain safe workplaces and prevent or limit the spread of coronavirus.”
The Sunday Herald Sun can also reveal many public servants may not return to the office this year, in a radical bid to stagger the number of people coming into the city at peak times during the pandemic.
The government hopes this will encourage businesses to follow suit, with the threat of big fines on the table for those who do the wrong thing.
As authorities boost enforcement, there will also be a new public transport app developed that will use myki data to show how full trains are, in order to show passengers which services are safest.
This is also designed to spread the number of commuters across the day and ease peak loading.
Another 217 cases of the virus were confirmed on Saturday, with 110 people now in hospital — 25 of whom are in intensive care.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said that the State Control Centre would work with police and WorkSafe to enforce Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s directions just like officers have been doing in the community.
Prof Sutton said businesses also would be educated on how to improve standards for their staff.
“The more we help businesses to strengthen their infection control measures within the workplace, the better chance we have of bringing down local transmission,” he said.
WorkSafe chief executive Colin Radford said thousands of checks were already occurring across the state to ensure employers were “keeping their workers safe” and that this would ramp up in coming weeks.
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