Tradespeople are seeking further clarity on the vaccine mandates as the Government doesn’t consider the industry 'close contact'
Construction industry leaders feel their pleas to the Construction Minister for vaccination mandates have been overlooked.
Last week the Government announced that workers in “close contact” businesses that required customers to show vaccine certificates would also need staff to be fully vaccinated.
Details of the vaccine mandate would be released this month, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said.
But Master Plumbers chief executive Greg Wallace says days before the traffic light announcement, the country’s construction industry leader met with Construction Minister Poto Williams pleading for a vaccination mandate.
“She said ‘I’ll just hold fire because we have some news coming out in the next week or so’. But none of the news was positive for our industry. It’s just hugely frustrating,” Wallace says.
The Ministry says the Government will be introducing a risk assessment process that businesses could use to decide whether they can require vaccination for their work.
“This assessment could include factors like who workers interact with during their work days, and how close that contact is. The Government is working on passing legislation for workplace vaccinations under urgency, but we encourage businesses and workers to begin conversations about vaccinations now.”
Wallace questions why small businesses have not been considered close contact and are having to fork out additional costs to consult on vaccination mandates.
"We're working in people's homes, in high risk zones but we can't mandate staff to get vaccinated. A lot of the businesses in construction are SMEs and it's very costly to go through that vaccination consultation process. It also takes a lot of time," he says.
In August, Australia's Victoria state announced vaccination mandates for the construction industry following an outbreak. But violent protests broke out in the state’s capital, Melbourne opposing the mandate.
Wallace says it's different here and at least 80 percent of the industry is already vaccinated.
“I don't think we will have anything like that. Talking to our Australian counterparts, it is a different working environment. The protests were hijacked by other people with vested interests,” Wallace says.
Since then, he says construction workers there have complied.
He couldn’t say whether the 80 percent vaccination rate in the industry is for first doses or full vaccination.
At least 76 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated.
“Whether it's defined as close contact or not, we think there are characteristics of construction give it a very strong case for mandating vaccination." – David Kelly, Master Builders
Everyday Wallace gets calls from clients only after tradespeople that are vaccinated.
At the moment tradespeople are showing their vaccination cards. But Wallace says these can be manipulated and are hard to verify.
He says another gap in information for tradies at the moment is how they can protect themselves from clients or other subcontractors who are not vaccinated.
“We don’t know how the vaccine passport will even work. Will it be in people’s homes?
“It's very one-sided at the moment. How does a plumber know he’s not exposing himself to Covid-19 working in someone’s house?”
Details on the vaccination certificate are also expected to be released later this month.
The MBIE spokeswoman says details on the Covid-19 Protection Framework, the post-lockdown traffic light system, will be announced after “further decisions are made by Ministers” this month.
“When we move to the COVID-19 Protection Framework, work done in close contact businesses will need to be done by vaccinated workers (regardless of their employment status) at Orange and Red. This requirement will be in place when we transition to the COVID-19 Protection Framework. These requirements are not yet in effect.”
But Master Builders chief executive David Kelly says tradies are taking on legal risks by implementing vaccination mandates anyway despite the Government not considering the industry as a “close contact” one.
Kelly is also asking for urgent clarity on what this means for the construction and trades industry MBIE says they are not currently considered “close contact”.
“On construction sites it's not always easy for people to keep the distances that are ideal. And people often are working indoors, over an extended period of time, and there are a number of different businesses that are potentially mixing on the site. And then people move from site to site,” Kelly says.
“Whether it's defined as close contact or not, we think there are characteristics of construction give it a very strong case for mandating vaccination.”
Kelly says some contractors have taken a “principled and courageous” move to mandate vaccinations among their subcontractors, but many were concerned they may expose themselves to legal challenges.
“They’re waiting, waiting, wondering what to do.”
Clients can put it in their contracts because they own the site, but Kelly says not having a standardised policy could cause delays and shortages in work as many subcontractors work in groups on multiple sites.
Minister Poto Williams has been approached for comment.
