It’s an exciting time of the year. Summer is close, the sun is out and optimism is high. It’s also great to see lockdowns and border closures easing; brilliant news for most Australian businesses. Many of us are returning to our workplaces, seeing our colleagues in person and trying to return to some semblance of normalcy. But will things stay like this given the track record? What can businesses do right now to bolster their COVID-Safe plans and ensure they meet government legislation around vaccine tracking? I have an easy, secure and free way for you to do it which I’ll touch on later. In the meantime, let’s reflect on how far we’ve all come.
There is no denying we have all been through a challenging 18 months. Who would have thought we would have endured a pandemic, moving many of us to reassess our business models, focus more on employee wellbeing and have to work so hard at keeping our teams connected.
This time of the year, many of us review our business plans and various strategies for the upcoming year, setting a foundation for what may lay ahead.
Let’s be candid, the reality is that we don’t really know what actually does lay ahead, particularly in the middle of a global pandemic. We all need to prepare for 2022, while maintaining a measure of flexibility. So the question is; from CEOs to Operations and Human Resources to boards: How prepared are you for 2022?
One thing we do know is that as Australia opens up, new COVID-19 vaccine tracking regulations are becoming more prevalent across our states and territories, and expanding into more industries. Every state has implemented some level of vaccine tracking. Victoria has a COVID-19 surveillance testing policy requiring testing (and documenting) across many workplaces and the Western Australian government has a COVID-19 vaccination policy “for a majority of occupations and workforces” that will be introduced in a phased approach. Over in ACT the government requires mandatory vaccination registration only for ‘high risk’ industries, at least for now. And then the New South Wales government has its own elaborate vaccination compliance rules for businesses—and its hefty fines for non-compliance—on their website.
Every business tries to be a step ahead of the game, and no-one likes fines. Government regulation around COVID-19 Safe Plans and vaccination registers are not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it seems likely that the industries required by the government to maintain some sort of vaccine tracking register will expand.
Ultimately vaccine tracking isn’t a bad thing, after all these regulations are there to protect employees and the community at large. Yet, for businesses the thought of implementing a vaccination register is another administrative burden when they least need one.
This is why some organisations still don’t have a vaccination register. Others are using basic and manual vaccine tracking methods that are time-consuming, compromise accuracy and may fail to protect sensitive staff information. We’re talking about vaccine registers kept in excel spreadsheets, word documents, or worse still, on paper.
A recent article in the Australian Financial Review ‘Terrible mistakes’ could send execs to jail over vaccine certificates’, has experts warning businesses that they may be exposing themselves to ‘lawsuits, hefty fines and even executive jail sentences’ if the data isn’t handled properly.
“businesses storing information about whether someone has been vaccinated are therefore storing health information, quite possibly for the first time, exposing them to the Privacy Act, which requires they take “reasonable steps” to secure that information”.
John Davidson, Australian Financial Review
On top of a difficult 18 months, businesses now have added responsibility and risk to deal with. These new vaccine registration regulations take time to fulfill; and time is precious. Most of you are busy running and building your business or organisation; whilst taking care of your staff wellbeing, many of whom have experienced challenging circumstances, lockdowns and isolation. Needless to say, you have enough on your plate.
There is a way to simplify the vaccination registration process, save time and allow you to manage your data safely. Best of all, it’s being given to Australian businesses free of charge for an entire year.
It’s called the COVID-19 management module, a new module in WHS Monitor that securely records and stores the vaccination and testing status of workers in any industry. And, yes, we are providing it free to all Australian organisations for a whole year. So whether you’re in aged care, hospitality, mining, health, education or retail; whatever the sector, this vaccine register is for you.
What is the catch? There isn’t one. We just want to support Australian businesses, many of whom have experienced great challenges over the last 18 months. And action speaks louder than words. We want vaccine tracking to be one less thing you have to worry about.
It’s an all-in-one compliance platform that will allow you to do three key things:
Securely store copies of employee vaccination records, monitor vaccination dates and send automatic reminders
Securely keep track of employee COVID-19 test results
Access a real time dashboard that gives you a holistic view of your organisation's vaccination rates and testing results, for every employee at every location.
It’s also simple and easy-to-use. All you do is set up an account. You can then send your employees a link to where they can securely lodge their details, test results and vaccination certificates. Just think of the time you will save with this employee self-service feature. It is web-based, comes pre-configured, requires no downloading of apps, and is mobile friendly. In fact, the National Health and Safety Manager at Rexel shared this comment with us “The feedback we’ve received from employees and contractors has been positive. They have all found it easy to use and it has enabled us to achieve national consistency. That’s important to the company.”
We guarantee we keep vaccination and testing information safe. Whomever is responsible for implementing the vaccine tracking regulations, be it HR or business owners, you manage all the data. Staff access is also managed with multi-factor authentication. And all of your data is stored at an ASD (Australian Signals Directorate) certified data centre in Australia.
Think of all the positives your organisation will experience by registering to use our COVID-19 management module:
And best of all you can enter 2022 ready to focus on your business and staff wellbeing rather than being bogged down in vaccine tracking compliance.
With more time available for innovation, what will you implement in 2022? Maybe a new staff program? Or further expansion of your hybrid workplace tech? Or possibly spend more time on R&D? It’s your choice. Allow us to ease the stress of vaccine registration with our complimentary COVID-19 management module! And remember, it is open to ALL Australian businesses. So if you know of a mate, supplier or stakeholder who may also need to get on top of their vaccination register, send them over to us. The more organisations we can help meet vaccine tracking legislation requirements, easily and securely, the happier we will be.
I’m a Project Manager at WHS Monitor. We are trusted by teams in over 2,500 businesses Australia-wide, and our company has 25 years’ experience creating software solutions to keep Australian businesses compliant and safe.
When not at work, you’re likely to find me catching up with friends at my favourite wine bar. And I’m super passionate about staff wellbeing, hiking and photography.
A WHS Monitor safety specialist will contact you to assess your needs and demonstrate a system that suits your business.
