Coronavirus & Safety at Work

AWU Workplace Health & Safety Alert

27 February 2020

With health authorities stepping up Australia’s response to the global outbreak of Coronavirus, the AWU is monitoring the situation closely.

Many AWU members are on the frontline of risk of exposure to Coronavirus and we’ll be working hard to ensure that every possible precaution is taken to keep members safe at work.

While there is no evidence of increased instances of coronavirus in Australia at present, we’re not taking any chances to protect you at work.

We’ll be writing to employers in at-risk industries to seek assurances about what measures are being taken to protect workers from exposure and making it clear that AWU members can refuse work that poses an imminent risk to their health and safety.

We’ve already worked with employers in ports, terminals and hospitals to ensure those members at greatest risk have been kept safe from any risk of exposure.

We know that Coronavirus is having an economic impact as well.

That’s why we’ve also worked with the Queensland State Government to make sure that industries affected by Coronavirus like tourism, transport and hospitality are also receiving additional support.

We’ll keep up this work to do everything we can to protect AWU members jobs and income during this tough time.

We’d encourage all members to continue to listen to health advice and to contact your AWU Organiser if you have any concerns at work.

For official and up-to-date information make sure you visit the Queensland Health page.