Copy
WALGA’s Waste Management Newsletter
Special Edition December 2021

Critical Infrastructure Worker Directions – Waste Management

The Critical Infrastructure Worker (Restrictions on Access) Directions have been released. These Directions cover waste management and other critical infrastructure, and can be viewed here.

As with the other Directions, whether a worker needs to be vaccinated relates to whether they are regularly (more than once a week) entering a premise covered by the Directions and they are a type of worker included in the Directions. 

The Directions apply to a ‘waste infrastructure site’, which has a broad definition and includes vehicles and infrastructure sites which collect, transport, receive, sort, treat, recycle, recover (including energy recovery), process or dispose of domestic or commercial waste. The workers covered by the Directions are those who work to provide services or perform activities in connection with a waste service. Those activities listed in the Directions include:
  • A driver or operator of a vehicle or equipment
  • Technical or maintenance services
  • Administrative duties
  • Cleaning services
  • Security services.
For Local Governments and their contractors, this means there is broad coverage for all sites that undertake waste management activities but not for workers who may be undertaking waste related activities at a site which doesn’t directly handle the waste. Some examples are provided below:
  • A driver of a waste collection vehicle would be covered because the vehicle is a waste infrastructure site (the definition of “premises” under the Public Health Act 2016 (WA) includes a vehicle) and the driver is a type of worker covered by the Directions.
  • A Local Government which has a waste transfer station and a separate administrative office at another site. Only those workers who are at the transfer station (or who visit a waste infrastructure site more than weekly) would be covered by the Directions.
  • A Regional Council has a landfill, where all of their operations, administration and education is based. All workers are likely to be covered by the Directions, as they are all required to enter a “waste infrastructure site” and all workers are “performing activities in connection with a waste service”.
Please review the Directions closely and ensure workers are clearly covered by the Directions before directing workers to be vaccinated. If you require a legal interpretation of the Directions, please seek legal advice.
 
If you have any questions about the Directions, email the WALGA COVID-19 Response Team, noting that the WALGA office will be closed from 12:00pm on Friday, 24 December and reopening on Tuesday, 4 January 2022.

Waste is the Word

 
Want to share your waste management successes, promote a new project, have a key question answered or collaborate with other Local Governments? We want to include your waste management issues in our next newsletter.
Submit your content to the WALGA Waste Team

Resources


WALGA operates prequalified supply contracts to access goods and services at market preferential rates. We have Preferred Supplier arrangements in place for a range of Waste Management, Parks and Gardens, and Environmental services to support service delivery and sustainability within the sector.
Visit the WALGA website
Facebook
Website
Email
LinkedIn
Instagram
Copyright © WALGA. All rights reserved.

ONE70, LV1, 170 Railway Parade, West Leederville, WA 6007
PO Box 1544, West Perth, WA 6872

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.