No beards allowed: TasWater wins fight at Fair Work Commission to rule against facial hair

A union challenged TasWater’s new rules that its employees be clean-shaven – with the removal of beards, moustaches, sideburns and even stubble. Fair Work Commission’s decision >>

Shot of a focused young man shaving his beard while looking at his reflection in the mirror at home. Picture: File

A union has lost a battle against TasWater and what it called an “unreasonable” direction that its employees be clean-shaven – with the removal of beards, moustaches and sideburns.

According to a newly-published Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision, TasWater now requires its employees to remove facial hair to provide an “adequate seal” while wearing respiratory protective equipment.

The equipment, including dust masks, half-face respirators and self-contained breathing apparatus, are used to help protect workers from airborne contaminants including crystalline silica, asbestos and other chemicals.

In mid-2022, TasWater began reviewing its personal protective equipment (PPE) procedures.

In late 2023, it sent an email to all staff with a final version of its PPE procedure, which included a requirement for employees to be clean shaven between the face and the face seal when wearing the equipment.

TasWater workers on the job upgrading Margaret Street Pump Stations. Picture: TasWater

Another email confirmed this requirement would be enforced from December 11, 2023.

But the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia (CEPU) raised a dispute against the direction.

The commission noted that of TasWater’s approximately 988 employees, about 400 were engaged in service delivery and were required to repair faults, cut through bricks, asphalt and other substances to access pipes, and remove damaged parts by cutting them.

Deputy president Val Gostencnik noted the cutting meant there was potential exposure to asbestos and crystalline silica, both which could cause severe illness or death if inhaled.

He said some workers changed out drums of liquid chlorine, two to four times in a month, entered areas where hydrated lime was used to treat wastewater, or entered pump stations with a risk of exposure to airborne pathogens, hydrogen sulphide and concentrated carbon dioxide.

TasWater was told about four employees did not intend on complying with the new rules.

Mr Gostencnik said TasWater used a number of techniques to reduce risk of exposure, but that PPE – while lower-level – was still “necessary and important”.

He said before the review, TasWater’s procedures already noted how facial hair could prevent an adequate seal with respiratory equipment for workers entering contaminated areas.

The procedures noted that even the stubble of a few days’ growth could prevent this seal – and that workers should not enter such areas until they could “confirm and maintain a positive seal”.

However, until the December 2023 directive, the procedures did not “expressly require” an employee must be clean shaven, Mr Gostencnik said.

The union made a number of arguments, including claims that employees were not consulted about the change, that the changes were inconsistent under the Workplace Health and Safety Act, that the equipment didn’t properly fit some workers, and that the “bearded dissenters” could use alternative equipment.

Mr Gostencnik did not agree.

The commission found TasWater’s direction to its employees was lawful, reasonable, rational and appropriate.

“Having regard to the potential harm of inhaling hazardous materials, which can be deadly, I do not consider the requirement to be clean shaven on the parts of the face which contact the seal of the respiratory protective equipment is onerous,” Mr Gostencnik said.

Follow @ambervwilson