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Victoria’s new work phase has COVID-Safe campaign

The CFMEU Victoria and Master Builders Victoria have joined other union and employer groups for a collaborative new campaign focused on workplace safety in the building, construction and development industry. Source: Timberbiz

The campaign coincides with the metropolitan Melbourne part of the sector moving to the ‘Restricted’ phase, with an aim to continue the great track record of safety the industry has had since March.

The campaign aims to influence all workers and will also see the messages translated into 15 different languages and cultural context, so workers of all backgrounds can easily access the important information on COVID-19 safety.

This campaign will involve downloadable on-site information provided to all employers and workers across the range of groups in the industry, and a social media campaign that each union and employer group will promote through their various member channels.

The group of unions and employer associations have worked with leading micro-community specialist Cultural Pulse to develop the messages and they will also amplify the communications through various multicultural community and digital channels to culturally contextualise and convey the importance of operating in a COVID safe manner.

The campaign will cover different phases over the coming weeks and months, with today’s focus on safety and hygiene on the worksite, while next week will focus on the need for those practices to be observed away from work in the household, to help protect the safety of individuals, their work colleagues and their livelihoods.

The building, construction and development industry has been a leader in the implementation and adaptation of new COVID-19 safety protocols. Most of those protocols mandated in the Government roadmap have already been proactively implemented by the industry over the last seven months.

It’s these actions that have seen the building, construction and development industry keep infection and transmission rates at a fraction of the community average and have made onsite workers less-likely than the rest of the community to contract COVID-19.