Firms can force customers to prove vaccination as condition of entry, according to Safe Work Australia guidelines

New updated guidelines by Safe Work Australia on the vaccine rollout recommend stronger powers to employers.

Nurse immuniser Zoe Leung (left) simulates administering a COVID-19 vaccine to Fiona Paine inside one of the vaccination rooms at the Sydney Local Health District Vaccination Hub. Picture: Kate Geraghty

Employers will be able to require customers and visitors to prove they have been vaccinated as a condition of entry to their premises, new updated guidance by Safe Work Australia about the vaccine rollout says.

But the national body says employees will generally not be able to refuse to come to work because a colleague has not been vaccinated.

In new guidance to employers and workers released on Friday, the SWA says it is unlikely work, health and safety laws will require a business to ask customers and visitors for proof of vaccination.

“However, you still might want to require this as a condition of entry to your premises,” it says.

“Before you take action to impose this kind of requirement, you should seek advice as there might be privacy and discrimination issues that apply.”

Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter said that as a guiding principle, both the Fair Work Ombudsman and Safe Work Australia stressed the overwhelming majority of employers should assume they would not be able to require their employees to be vaccinated.

“That said, employers should be aware of any public health orders that may have been issued by relevant state and territory government health agencies that could require certain workers to be vaccinated in some high-risk industries,” he said.

In its advice to employers, the SWA says it is unlikely a requirement for workers to be vaccinated will be reasonably practicable.

It says this was because public health experts have currently not recommended a vaccine be made mandatory in any industries; there may not yet be a vaccine available for the employer’s workers; a workplace might be low risk; or some workers might have medical reasons for not being vaccinated.

“However ultimately whether you should require your workers to be vaccinated will depend on the particular circumstances at the time you are undertaking your risk assessment,” it says.

On the question of whether a worker can refuse to go to work if a colleague is not vaccinated, SWA says a worker can only refuse to carry out work if the worker has a reasonable concern they would be exposed to a serious risk to their health or safety.

“In most circumstances, a worker will not be able to rely on the WHS laws to cease work simply because another worker at the workplace isn’t vaccinated, however this will depend on the circumstances,” it says.

On the question of whether employers will be held liable under WHS laws if they do not make workers get vaccinated and one of them got COVID-19, the SWA says “there is currently insufficient evidence about the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on transmission of the virus which means that a worker could get COVID-19 even if they are vaccinated”.

“It is therefore unlikely that you have breached model WHS laws simply because you don’t require your workers to get vaccinated.

Employers must continue to implement all reasonably practicable control measures at work, such as physical distancing, good hygiene and increased cleaning and maintenance. “Your workers should not come to work if they are unwell – even if they are vaccinated,” it says.

Under workers’ compensation laws workers may be entitled to workers’ compensation if they contract COVID-19 while at work, regardless of how they contracted it.