Clayton Utz Safety Pod

As of this week, a large portion of Australia is now requiring employees to have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Radio 6PR Perth interviewed Workplace Relations partner Saul Harben again on this hot topic to discuss what employers have to do and what they can do in relation to vaccines for their workforce.

Imposing mandatory vaccination in a workplace, or even incentivising vaccinations, comes with complex issues which cut across work health and safety, discrimination, privacy, contract law, duty of care, health directives and even TGA approvals. COVID-19 vaccines are now an integral part of the Federal Government's national roadmap to greater freedoms, but are not mandatory for the vast majority of employers. Where does that leave employers? Host Hilary Searing, Shae McCartney, Anna Casellas and Sheena McKie go through the legalities and risk considerations, the impact of TGA requirements, and whether you can now legally say "no jab, no job".

SPC is mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for its workers, and other employers will follow. Workplace Relations partner Saul Harben spoke to Radio 6PR Perth on the legal ins and outs of this very hot (and heated) issue, and whether employers can legally say "no jab, no job".

Safe Work Australia has released Australia's "first comprehensive WHS guidance" on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, acting on a national inquiry's recommendations to produce the document and drive home the message that sexual harassment is a major work health and safety issue.  Shae McCartney and Hilary Searing explore the implications of this guidance, the risks of not taking a proactive approach to managing sexual harassment, the blurring of social and work boundaries in a pandemic world, and what can be done to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the workplace.

Stay at home directions, changing routines, exercising caution, uncertainty for the future… It's enough to exhaust even the most energetic of us all.  With the shift to working from home and the other changes brought by COVID-19, the risks of fatigue might be coming from unexpected places, and health and safety standards might be breached. Shae McCartney and Hilary Searing provide a much needed energy boost as they survey the risks and what you can do to stay alert on the health and safety front.

We know mental health issues are sky rocketing, but what as an employer can we do? Shae McCartney and Hilary Searing shine the light on less obvious risks as a result of the pandemic – psychosocial hazards – how they've come to light during the pandemic, and how we can manage them.

If you're navigating the return to work process you'll have to actively control the workplace at home as well as your usual premises. Work health and safety experts Shae McCartney and Hilary Searing explore the changed risk profile (and multiple policies) you'll have to review and rejig to stay safely agile in uncertain times.

As COVID-19 vaccines gradually become available as part of the Federal Government's national vaccination rollout and, so far, the Government does not intend to make vaccinations mandatory, employers have been left to determine if they can mandate vaccinations for their workers. To kick off our Safety Pod, our work health and safety experts (host Hilary Searing, featuring Shae McCartney) go through the legalities and general risk considerations for mandating vaccinations for workers, and whether you can legally say "no jab, no job".