The Queensland government, building industry lobby groups and construction unions have pleaded with the building sector to remain vigilant about COVID risks in order to help avoid a shutdown of the industry in the state.

As building sites in South Australia and Greater Sydney have closed, Queensland Minister for Public Works and Procurement Mick de Brenni applauded industry efforts to-date but warned against complacency in order to avoid a similar construction shutdown in the northern state.

DeBrenni says that with 240,000 jobs at stake, the sector needed to adopt simple COVID steps.

“From day one, tradies, subcontractors, major construction companies, suppliers, unions and employer groups have worked together to keep this critical sector working,” de Brenni said.

“The situation in New South Wales (the statement was issued before the SA lockdown announcement) is a stark reminder of how much is at stake.

“We are all focussed on working together to ensure construction sites stay open, powering Queensland’s economic recovery.

“Queensland construction sites have seen a range of measures introduced, including ensuring social distancing in crib rooms and using hand sanitiser to staggered start times, that have kept everybody at work.”

The latest warning come as construction shutdowns have been introduced in New South Wales and Greater Sydney.

On Saturday the NSW Government announced a shut down of construction within the Greater Sydney area until July 30.

Apart from a restricted range of circumstances (refer article), construction sites must remain closed during this time.

All non-essential maintenance on residential premises has also had to stop, including cleaning services and repair works.

In South Australia, construction has also been shut down as part of a seven-day snap shutdown which began in that state on Monday.

The industry was not included in the state’s definition of essential work which is allowed to continue during this time.

Around Australia, measures have been necessary on building sites to prevent COVID spread across several areas.

According to the latest industry guidelines in Victoria (rules and guidelines may differ elsewhere), these include screening workers coming onto site, workplace mapping, physical distancing, density quotients, worker hygiene, shared tools along with shared plant and equipment, cleaning and disinfecting, personal hoists, face masks and personal protective equipment, common areas, inspections, a COVID marshal, travel, general communications and CALD messaging, dealing with vulnerable workers and managing positive cases and close contacts.

Master Builders Queensland chief executive officer Grant Galvin said it was critical to keep the building and construction industry open.

He said the situation in other states showed the success of Queensland’s COVID plan but also a warning to not to let the sector’s guard down.

“Everyone, on every site across Queensland has been working hard to keep our construction sector going during this trying period,” Galvin said.

“We don’t want to see construction shut down, therefore it’s critical that we keep up the COVID safe practices.”

Building unions agree.

Electrical Trades Union State Secretary Peter Ong and Plumbers Union State Secretary Gary O’Halloran said COVID shutdowns in other states showed how damaging they could be.

“We have managed Covid in the construction industry for the last 18 months,” Ong said.

“We have had to change our work practices to make sure that we are managing the safety of all workers.

“We sat down with builders, workers and sub-contractors and put together a plan that would keep our industry going but not at the risk of workers or the general public.

“Proper planning and implementation as well as education is what was required and that’s what we did, and the fact that we have not had one infection in our industry in 18 months is a testament to that planning.

“We have managed to keep workers safe and employed and added to the economy.”

O’Halloran agrees.

“We have been able to be COVID safe, keep people employed, keep apprentices coming through and projects going by being COVID safe on site,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“But we need to make sure we keep doing the right thing.”