Clarity sought on office spacing

VICTORIAN businesses are stalling bringing employees back to offices amid confusion over eased workplace rules.

The state government on Thursday moved to clear confusion about the requirement that office workers be kept 1.5m apart, saying it never existed.

That contradicted advice being given by WorkSafe and published on the government’s own coronavirus website.

Victoria Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said businesses had refused to let workers back in the office despite density limits being dropped on April 9.

“Pretty much every business that we talked to, before we advised them, were still operating at 1.5m,” he said.

“Every conversation started by them saying, ‘We’d love to get to 100 per cent, and we can meet the density limits, except for the 1.5m requirement’.

“It’s a big issue. We’re highly concerned that WorkSafe have a different interpretation of what the government’s directions are.”

On its coronavirus website, WorkSafe advised businesses that workers should, “plan ways to ensure physical distancing, such as allowing at least 1.5m distance between people for all tasks”.

That advice mirrored official government advice on its coronavirus website that said the 1.5m rule was one of a raft of measures that “need to be used to promote physical distancing.”

But a government spokeswoman said the 1.5m requirement was only ever a protective measure.

“Public health advice, such as hand sanitising, coughing into your elbow and keeping 1.5m apart, has always gone hand-in-hand with COVIDsafe plan requirements but have never been mandated,” she said.

“With the return to 100 per cent capacity and the lifting of density limits in office-based workplaces, physical distancing of 1.5m remains a protective barrier that we encourage where possible, but it’s not mandatory.

“There has been workplace engagement to ensure these measures can be safely implemented, through sector roundtables with industry organisations, major companies, regional reps and unions.”

The spokeswoman said the government had worked closely with businesses and workplaces around the minimum standards required to ensure people could work from the office in a COVID-safe way.

But Mr Guerra said he had been left confused about the 1.5m requirement until seeking clarification from the Health Department.

Victoria’s courts had also refused to reopen at full capacity despite the density limit being removed because of ongoing confusion over the rules.

Chief Justice Anne Ferguson issued a statement on Thursday, saying public health officials had said “courts and tribunals can operate with no physical distancing including jury trials”.