NEW TOOL AIMS TO KEEP CONSTRUCTION SITES OPEN
SCANNING a QR code could be the key to getting thousands of Victorian and NSW construction workers back safely on the job.
New technology from Comply Group that is being rolled out across Australian workplaces allows a staff member to upload their vaccination status to a workforce vaccine register – a new tool that could be mandatory in the coming months as Australia emerges from the pandemic.
It is already in use in aged care, manufacturing, healthcare and logistics, but Melbourne-based Comply Group is now giving the tool away for free to construction sites of up to 30 staff/ contractors to help the industry reopen safely.
The tool involves workers uploading their vaccination certificates to a form they are sent in a text message, and it is matched with the register once they scan a QR code as they enter a worksite.
Once they are scanned in, they are then directed to the state government check-in app.
Comply Group CEO Ben Richardson said workers and managers at worksites could cut out the awkward back and forth of asking about vaccination status by using the workplace register.
Ensuring staff were vaccinated and a business was following public health orders could be “complex”, he said.
Having a workforce’s vaccination status stored centrally allowed them to manage rostering “comeback-to-work requirements”.
Mr Richardson said the feedback from businesses using the tool had been positive.
“They love it because it just allows them to just immediately get a snapshot of where their workforce’s at, and then they can work out where they need to put the effort internally to improve education around the vaccination side of things,” he said.
He said the software would allow a business to work out how many unvaccinated people could be on a site, within government rules, and then how many staff on any given day would need a PCR or rapid test.
It comes as about 200 surveillance and inspection activities were conducted in Victoria last week, and 73 per cent of construction sites failed to comply with health directions on one day alone.