SPC has become the first Australian company to demand its staff vaccinate against COVID-19, following in the footsteps of organisations in the healthcare industry, with aviation giant QANTAS is expected to follow suit.
The challenges of COVID-19 Delta – NSW reported nearly 300 new cases today – have pragmatic empiricists like NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and her medical chief, Dr. Kerry Chant, conceding the impossibility of containing the current outbreak in the way the Alpha variant was contained – argue SPC is correct. It’s impossible to imagine SPC will not be the first of a trickle that grows into a torrent, with organisations in food processing, travel and education following close behind.
The Fair Work Commission’s decisions on vaccination dismissal in healthcare and aged care have turned on the health and safety obligations of the employer – these have been found to outweigh any personal issues with vaccination. As the infection rate and death toll from COVID-19 Delta continue to rise, it’s certain such dismissals will be supported should they occur in other industries, too.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said today she backed employers on vaccination.
“Workplaces have the right to mandate vaccination, if they decide they have a particular policy of who is allowed to work in their workplace under a pandemic during a lockdown, that is a matter for them,” Berejiklian said.
From the point of view of manufacturers, security managers and security integrators, such a trend is going to require access control management solutions evolve so as to express these new safety procedures – leading management solution developers should already be working on incorporating COVID-19 vaccination status into system rules.
Many access management systems already incorporate demands for training and health status – this means slotting COVID-19 vaccination into the works won’t be a complicated business. Something that may be required is a standard of proof that vaccination has been received. It will be up to security and OH&S teams in consultation with healthcare professionals to liaise in this area.
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