Keeping your business COVIDSafe

Does your Business have a current COVIDSafe plan?
It is mandatory for every Victorian business with on-site operations to have a COVIDSafe Plan(PDF, 111KB).

Your COVIDSafe Plan must demonstrate:

• Your actions to help prevent the introduction of COVID-19 to your workplace
• The type of face mask or personal protective equipment (PPE) required for your workforce (if required)
• How you will prepare for, and respond to, a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 in your workplace
• How you will meet all the requirements set out by the Victorian Government. Some industries or workplaces are subject to additional industry obligations and have additional requirements of employers and employees.

Businesses must review and update their COVIDSafe Plans regularly, especially when restrictions or public health advice changes. Organisations with multiple worksites must complete a COVIDSafe Plan for each worksite.

 What have you done to make your business COVIDSafe?
These actions may include encouraging everyone entering your business premises to use hand sanitiser on entry and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.

 Who is responsible for updating your COVIDSafe Plan?
Your COVIDSafe Plan should be frequently reviewed (every 6 months) and updated to comply and meet requirements for your workers, contractors and customers.

 Do your workers know your COVIDSafe Plan?
It’s important for your workers to know your COVIDSafe Plan and the actions you have taken. It will help them understand the importance to your business of staying safe and the importance of staying home if they are ill.
The COVID-19 symptoms include fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, a runny nose or loss of smell.

Click here for further information for your business.

Please contact the COVID education officers if you require any help.

1. Practise physical distancing
- Where possible within the workplace, aim for workers and visitors to maintain physical distancing of 1.5 metres

2. Practise good hygiene
- Make soap and hand sanitiser available for all workers and customers throughout the worksite and encourage regular handwashing.

3. Prevention is the best protection
- Anyone can get sick from COVID-19, but some people are more vulnerable to severe illness if they have existing health problems or are older. We can all take steps right now to reduce the spread of COVID-19 to protect ourselves, our loved ones and the wider community.

4. Masks are recommended if you can't physically distance
- Masks are still required in sensitive settings such as hospitals and care facilities.

5. Avoid interactions in enclosed spaces
- Move activity outside where practicable, including meetings, tearooms, lunch breaks and serving customers.
- Enhance airflow by opening windows and doors.

6. Protect the most vulnerable during winter 
- Three or Four COVID-19 vaccine doses are still required for workers in residential aged care and disability care, healthcare, and custodial and emergency services, including police.

How to improve ventilation and encourage air flow from outside to help reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in the workplace.

There is new guidance on building ventilation for workplaces to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. This guidance can be incorporated into a business’ COVIDSafe Plan

COVID-19 is airborne. It is primarily spread between people breathing in very small virus-containing droplets or aerosols.

The risk of aerosol transmission is higher if someone with COVID-19 is in a poorly ventilated space. This is because fine aerosol spray from an infected person can remain circulating, linger and spread to other people in a space more easily.

The risk of transmission is highest where there is an overlap of the ‘Three C’s’:

• Crowded places
• Close-contact settings (such as face-to-face conversations)
• Confined or enclosed spaces.

Types of ventilation and how they can be improved

1. Natural ventilation
Natural ventilation forces air movement through and around an occupied space.

Opening windows and leaving doors open in hallways and corridors allows fresh air into a room. This helps dilute indoor air and remove particles suspended in the air (like aerosolised COVID-19 droplets or viral particles).

2. Mechanical ventilation
Using mechanical equipment increases airflow by replacing or diluting indoor air with outside air. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems or air conditioning units filter air to maintain air quality.

This can be improved by:

• maximising the amount of outside air into a space by disabling any control systems that vary the amount of fresh air based on occupancy
• changing the settings to increase the proportion of outdoor air recirculating in a space
• installing a higher-grade filter within the air handling unit.

3. Augmented ventilation
Portable filtration units catch particles in a filter. This increases the clean air delivery rate and reduces the concentration of viral particles in the air.

This can be achieved by:

• adding a portable fan filter unit (PFFU) to areas where air circulation is the lowest, such as corners of rooms, the centre of large rooms, and away from windows, doors, or extract grilles
• using ceiling fans or wall-mounted air-conditioning units to help distribute filtered air around a space.

Small Business Ventilation Guide

The Small Business Ventilation Guide provides simple tips to help businesses and workplaces improve ventilation and reduce COVID-19 transmission.

Mornington Peninsula Shire fully supports getting vaccinated to protect individuals and the community.

We strongly encourage business owners and their staff to get vaccinated – to protect health, jobs and business.

Encouraging community vaccination is an integral part of Council’s COVID-19 economic recovery plan.

Our economic recovery and high vaccination levels go hand in hand. When more people are vaccinated, there will be fewer outbreaks and less need for restrictions. Which means businesses will be able to stay open.

Mornington Peninsula Shire has approved a $10 million COVID-19 recovery plan for our economy, and we strongly encourage our community to get vaccinated to support our local businesses in re-opening as quickly as possible.

Why get vaccinated?

• It significantly reduces your risk of getting COVID-19
• It protects you against becoming very sick if you do get COVID-19
• It helps protect your family, friends and community
• It gets us back to business!

How to get vaccinated

• Call your GP to check if they are offering vaccinations or speak to your pharmacist
• Call the vaccine hotline 1800 675 398 or visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccine to book your vaccination

Where can I get vaccinated locally?

• At your GP or some local pharmacies
• Peninsula Vaccination Centre at 1391 Point Nepean Road, Rosebud

Frequently asked questions for businesses

Click here to view the Victorian State Governments vaccine FAQs for businesses.

• COVIDSafe Plan Template(PDF, 111KB)
• COVIDSafe Plan: Guide and Checklist(PDF, 202KB)
• Physical distancing poster(PDF, 1MB)
• Please respect our staff poster (PDF, 18KB)
• Staff health questionnaire (PDF, 118KB)
• Vaccination status required poster(PDF, 96KB)
• Guide on How to deal with difficult customers (PDF, 476KB)
• Guide to improve ventilation (PDF, 46KB)
• Workers vaccination status registe(PDF, 63KB)r
• Tips for talking to customer(PDF, 160KB) (PDF, 160KB)
• Is you business COVIDSafe poster
  (PDF, 448KB)

• Workplaces business and industry contact assessment guide (PDF, 222KB)

The Mornington Peninsula Shire has complied further support and information for businesses during COVID-19, such as:

• Business support
• COVID business grants and funding
• Training and advice for your business
• Important points for food businesses
• Accessing mental health support
• Meeting occupational health and safety obligations
• Tenants and Landlords Relief Assistance

You can visit the Coronavirus website for more information