Top 8 WHS resources for COVID-19

Top 8 resources for meeting COVID-19
WHS obligations

By Natalie Darby

While many businesses have implemented a COVID-19 Safety Plan to fulfil their obligations under Public Health Orders to minimise risk of transmission of COVID-19 on their premises, there is also a Work Health and Safety (WHS) requirement. Safe Work Australia has identified COVID-19 as a “foreseeable risk that must be assessed and managed in the context of your operating environment”.

This blog identifies key resources to help you meet these compliance obligations. We all have a part to play in infection prevention and control. Being COVID safe inspires confidence in customers and staff. An infection control focused WHS risk assessment will ultimately help your business and the economy.

Safe Work Australia has identified COVID-19 as a “foreseeable risk that must be assessed and managed in the context of your operating environment”.

1. Safe Work Australia Risk Assessment.
Safe Work Australia has created a resource to help your business undertake a COVID Risk Assessment. Upskilling in infection prevention and control will assist your managers and WHS Committee to undertake this task. It may even assist people to return to the workplace sooner. The National Unit of Competence is HLTINFCOV001 Comply with infection control policies and procedures. Look out for government funded training in your state. There are fully funded (free) options in NSW for 2020.
Link to Safe Work Australia Risk Assessment

2. Break the chain of infection.
As adults we want to know ‘why’ we should be doing something. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has a great poster for showing how infectious agents spread. If we can break the chain of infection we can stay safe.
Link to Break the Chain Poster

3. Hand hygiene.
Hand hygiene is key to breaking the chain of infection at the point of entry. We are often unaware of the number of times we touch our face in an hour. One study suggests around 23 times in an hour. This can mean providing a new home for an infectious agent through our eyes, nose or mouth. Staff need to know when and how to properly wash their hands to keep themselves and customers / clients safe.
Link to NSW Health hand wash publication

The World Health Organisation poster shows us how to use alcohol based hand sanitiser / rub.
Link to Hand Sanitiser / Rub Poster

4. Environmental Cleaning.
Do your staff know how to properly clean their environment. Should you use detergent or disinfectant? Refer to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care for what you need to know.
Link to Principles of Environmental Cleaning

Tweets by NSWHealth

5. Respiratory hygiene.
Knowing how to cough and sneeze in a way that does not dispel millions of droplets into the air is another infection prevention and control standard precaution. Staff need to be educated on cough and sneeze etiquette. The Department of Health has some handy resources.
Link to Keep That Cough Under Cover

6. Stay at home.
To break the chain of infection it is important for people displaying symptoms to stay away from others and get tested. This resource from the Department of Health compares COVID-19 symptoms to colds and flus.
Link to Identifying Symptoms

7. Personal protective equipment (PPE).
Do your workers need to wear a mask? And most importantly, do they know how to wear one properly and take it off while minimising the risk of infection transmission? This resource is a must if staff are being asked to wear a mask.
Link to Mask Information for Consumers

8. Physical Distancing.
COVID-19 is spread by contact and droplets. Droplets travel around one meter when someone talks, coughs or sneezes. This is why staying 1.5 metres away from others is a way to break the chain of infection. This poster from the Department of Health helps explain and remind us to be COVID safe.
Link to Keeping Physical Distance Guide

Safe Work Australia has lots of information to help you comply with your WHS obligations. See their website for all the details: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/covid-19-information-workplaces.

If you’d like assistance in updating your WHS staff training we’d love to help you reduce risk in your business.