Substantial easing of restrictions on Melbourne construction sites may occur as early as September 28 whilst easing of most restrictions may occur by October 26 if thresholds specified under the Victorian Government’s plan for winding back COVID related restrictions are achieved.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has released a roadmap for the easing of COVID restrictions throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria.

It contains five steps along with dates by which these will occur provided that specified criteria are met.

In terms of construction, the first step – set to occur on September 13 – will not have any impact as this involves minor easing of social restrictions only.

Instead, the first easing of commercial related restrictions will occur at step 2, which will see the building sector move from a status of ‘Heavily Restricted’ to ‘Restricted’.

This will take place on the later of either Monday September 28 or as soon as an average of 30 to 50 new cases throughout Metro Melbourne has been achieved over the last fourteen days.

Under this step, the number of workers who are permitted on large-scale construction sites throughout metropolitan Melbourne will increase from the current allowance of 25 percent of their baseline workforce to the higher of either 15 workers or 85 percent of their baseline workforce.

However, large scale sites will need to conduct an audit of their High Risk COVID Safe Plan and will need to have a dedicated COVID Safe monitor on site. As well, site inductions and toolbox meetings will need to be held outside.

On small scale projects, the five worker limit will remain but the number of job sites which trade contractors will be able to attend in a given week will increase from three to five – including a maximum of two sites per day.

Early stage land development projects will see an easing in densities to allow up to 20 workers per hectare.

Aside from this, current restrictions and requirements will remain in place and workers and employers will need to observe requirements in terms of having a High-Risk COVID Safe plan, physical distancing, mask wearing/PPE, hygiene practices, record keeping and reducing worker movement and interaction.

Beyond this, further easing in Metropolitan Melbourne will occur during step 3, under which construction will move to a status of ‘Open With a COVIDSafe Plan’.

This stage will see the full removal of limitations for the number of workers on site along with removal of restrictions upon the number of sites which specialist trade contractors can attend.

As well, office workers will be able to return to the office.

However, a density quotient will apply and those workers who can work from home will still need to do so.

As well, most aforementioned requirements regarding physical distancing, PPE and other matters will remain in place.

This step will occur on the later of either October 26 or when Victoria reaches an average of less than five new cases state-wide over the last fourteen days and an average of less than five cases with an unknown source state-wide over a the last fourteen days.

In a statement, Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged that the process was long and difficult but said a staged process was needed to ensure that COVID transmission remained under control and to avoid further lockdowns.

“I understand there’ll be some people who’ll be disappointed, those who wanted more and sooner,” Andrews said.

“But these are the steady and sustainable steps that our health experts tell us will see us out of this – safely.”

Building industry lobby groups and unions welcomed the roadmap.

In a joint statement, CFMEU Victoria and the Master Builders Association of Victoria said the roadmap delivers certainty about what will be needed in order to get the industry back to full capacity whilst the on-site measures involved would be achievable and largely reflect what the industry has already been doing.

Whilst it was ideal for the industry to open as soon as possible, the MBA and CFMEU acknowledged the importance of reducing community transmission and praised for the government for listening to industry and union input.

“An advancement to ‘Restricted’ on the roadmap from 28 September will help many of our members increase their capacity and productivity which, in some cases, will mean reopening after this extended period of restrictions end,” Master Builders Association of Victoria chief executive officer Rebecca Casson said.

“We are very pleased to see an increase to 85% of workers allowed on site for large scale construction.  We are also pleased to see an increase of movement permitted between small scale construction sites, to 5 sites per week.

“For other parts of our sector, and renovations especially, this news will be extremely tough. However, we will continue to work with the Government and persist in representing the needs of our whole industry.”

“Our sector has remained safe since March and now we will focus on continuing our proactive COVID-19 measures in line with the Government’s roadmap, with our collective objective being back to full capacity as soon as possible.”

John Setka, Secretary of CFMEU Construction Victoria & Tasmania agrees.

“Since March, we have been committed to lead workers safely through the COVID-19 pandemic. Our priority has always been to protect the safety and livelihoods of our members, their families, and the broader community,” Setka said.

“The roadmap announced today is a good start to getting workers back to work with a clear plan to return to full capacity.”

“The safety measures we have in place are there for the protection of all construction workers, and we are confident we can continue to do just that, so we can lead the recovery of the Victorian economy.”

Full details of requirements for construction in Metropolitan Melbourne (MS Word files) can be found for large scale construction, small-scale construction and early stage land development can be seen at the links below:

Large Scale Construction

Small scale construction

Early stage land development

Also, the current version of the Coronavirus (COVID-19 Guildelines for the Building and Construction Industry Victoria (Revision 7) can be seen here.

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