Expanded mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy to cover 75% of WA workforce

By Rosemary Roach 

In response to updated health advice, the Western Australian Government has issued a new mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for WA workforces (Policy). The Policy expands on the current mandating of COVID-19 vaccination for certain professional cohorts, including hotel quarantine staff, healthcare and support workers, mission-critical police staff, port workers, freight and logistics workers, resources workers and primary and community health workers. The expansion will capture a broader range of industries and workplaces, estimated to cover up to 75% of the entire WA workforce.

The Policy prescribes a phased approach, described as ‘proportionate’ and ‘based on the public health risk’, in three industry groups as follows:

• Group 1: first dose by 1 December 2021 and fully vaccinated by 31 December 2021: industries determined as high-risk environments because they are required to interact with people with an increased risk of being infected with COVID-19 or people vulnerable to COVID-19, or are necessary to avoid catastrophic risk to the safety of the community. Some of these industries were announced previously and are in the process of implementation. This group includes cross-border freight workers, primary and community health workers, fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers, onsite regional and mission critical mining/resources sector workers, border and air transport workers, and corrective services.
• Group 2: first dose by 31 December 2021 and be fully vaccinated by 31 January 2022: industries and workforce deemed necessary to ongoing delivery of critical services to the community in the event of expected community transmission. Includes workers in retail, hospitality, child care, schools, public transport, and building, maintenance or construction services.
• Lockdown: must be fully vaccinated to attend work during a lockdown or similar restrictions: these workers will be required to be fully vaccinated to leave home to attend work, to decrease transmission risk and prevent impact on the delivery of these services. Includes workers in click and collect retail, government, media and members of WA Parliament.

The Premier announced in a press conference on 20 October 2021 that the State Government was consulting with industry leaders, peak bodies, unions and employers before issuing directions to give legal effect to the Policy (Directions). In an interview with ABC Radio Perth on 21 October 2021, the Premier confirmed that the Directions will not be finalised until consultation with industry groups has concluded. The Premier clarified this will involve further industry roundtables to provide feedback on the Policy.

It is unclear how long the consultation process will take. We note the State Government announced on 5 October 2021 that FIFO and local workers on WA mining and resource sites, people who work in remote operations, or run critical infrastructure, including remote train and port control must receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 12.01am 1 December 2021, and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022. However, directions are yet to be issued, despite two and a half weeks passing since the announcement. If the FIFO workers mandate provides any indication of timeframe, it may be a number of weeks before the Directions will be issued.

A careful review of the Directions, once issued, will be critical to understand the precise scope of the Directions (including any exemptions) and the details of requirements that will be imposed on impacted employers. In the absence of any Directions, we recommend that employers carefully consider the Policy and begin preparing for the Directions to be issued by:

• identifying whether any of the employer’s workers are captured by the Policy and collating any COVID-19 vaccination information the employer already holds in relation to those workers;
• preparing a communications plan to roll out to the employer’s workforce to explain the Policy (and the subsequent Directions) and its impact on the workforce, ensuring access to interpreters or translated documents for culturally and linguistically diverse employees. We also recommend that employers consider allowing attendance at State-run vaccination clinics during work hours;
• establishing how the employer will collect, record and hold workers’ vaccination information to maintain privacy to the extent possible and consider how this will be communicated to employees; and
• ensuring the employer is across any developments in relation to the Policy and the Directions.