A question thestratacommitte.com and to the whole strata industry is asking, “can a resident deny entry into their apartment if a contractor cannot provide proof of vaccination”?
At a recent SCA webinar, we asked this, and the industry-leading panellist provided great responses. It does seem that residents would have this right to ask for proof of vaccination for their self-preservation; however, in an emergency like a plumbing leak or electrical fault, common sense should prevail.
For the strata services industry, this will be the number one challenge of 2021 and 2022; the second challenge is “to what detail should a contractor have to sanitise in a resident’s apartment?” An example is the cost of an engineer. If an engineer enters a unit to provide a scope of works for a subsill repair, completes his work and then is required to sanitise the entire surface area they have reviewed, the cost of the works will double.
If this becomes a challenge the industry faces, large strata buildings would be financially wiser to renegotiate with their cleaning company for their onsite cleaners to follow contractors and sanitise after them.
The Strata Committee has asked Magic Glass, who is continually required to enter strata buildings and residents units, how they deal with residents wanting proof of vaccination and sanitising areas of work. Can Magic Glass share with our subscribers how these challenges are met by Magic Glass?
Magic Glass Response –
Living and working within today’s restrictions in NSW has become a huge change and challenge for everyone. The construction and maintenance industry in NSW and Australia plays a huge part in our everyday lives which is almost impossible to place a pause on. The challenge we are facing at the moment is access into sites due to LGA lock downs and residents denying access due to the Covid-19 outbreak. One way we have been able to handle this challenge is respecting certain residents wishes of having technicians attend site that are from their LGA.
Although most of our technicians have been vaccinated, Magic Glass has a safety plan in place advising that our technicians have a PPE kit provided including a face mask, hand sanitiser and gloves which has been an essential when the outbreak started back in March 2020 before vaccinations where rolled out.
Can a resident deny access if our technician cannot provide proof of vaccination?
We work in an industry where a damaged piece of glass can cause harm and danger if not handled as an emergency and correctly. There are already commercial areas in place such as hotel quarantines and airports where you cannot access the site unless you have had the first dose of covid-19 vaccine. This is an essential order with no grey area where you cannot access the site through security without providing this information. Obviously these areas contain the higher chance of catching the virus which is why it has been an essential requirement. Most of our technicians have made the decision to receive the vaccine which our compliance team can provide to client. We have yet to be turned away due to providing vaccination proof as the residents do understand the work as essential and an emergency.
As the vaccine is being rolled out and people are still waiting to be vaccinated there could be a restriction in the future where it will need to be essential to access sites, how far into the future we aren’t sure. For now we are providing the residents with knowledge of the scope of work needing to be completed and the safety measures we are putting in place to keep them safe.
Author – Prepared by thestratacommittee.com
