Master Builders Victoria continues to work relentlessly with government and our industry counterparts to address concerns of our members relating to the current restrictions, that we believe can be safely addressed. Some of these concerns relate to bottlenecks being created in the small-scale residential sector, which we are pleased to advise have tonight been reduced.
 
These changes will make it more practical to start and finish projects and will have a significant impact on this sector of our industry as a result. They reflect the positive nature of discussions with government as they continue planning for the roadmap to be announced on Sunday. More on that later.
 
The changes have been made to the FAQs available on the Business Victoria website. Master Builders Victoria has received advice that the intent of these changes is as follows:
 
For small-scale construction:

• For work carried out prior to the completion of Base Stage (as defined in the Domestic Building Contracts Act), workers will no longer be limited to 3 sites per week;
• For work carried out after the completion of the fixing stage (as defined in the Domestic Building Contracts Act), workers will no longer be limited to 3 sites per week;
• In each of the above scenarios, workers will still be limited in accordance with the Workplace Directions clause relating to the movement of workers (‘Reducing work across multiple sites’, clause 7(17-20)). This means that employers must limit the movement of workers as much as it is reasonably practical to do so;
• More than five workers can be present on site to ensure slab-pouring is completed safely but should be the minimum number possible for that activity.

 
For large-scale construction:

• Final commissioning, tuning, authority compliance and pre-handover are all considered to be construction activities on site, and must comply with the daily worker limit for large-scale construction, calculated as 25 per cent of baseline site workforce. Because the baseline site workforce is calculated across the project life cycle (from on-site mobilisation through to handover), the expectation is that the 25 per cent limit will provide the capacity to accommodate the smaller number of workers (relative to the number of workers required on site per day during peak construction) that are required to be on site for final commissioning, tuning, authority compliance and pre-handover activities.

 
These updates can be read in full here.
 
All members must understand that when applying these changes, the need to comply with the latest industry guidelines is essential, as with all work activity. Employers will need to be able to clearly demonstrate their reasons where they determine the need to exceed the limit of 3 sites per week, that it has been done only where necessary, and that every effort has been taken to reduce the mobility of workers and the risk of infection among them.
 
We urge members to consider the 6 measures announced by the Premier in yesterday's media conference. Compliance with these measures will be critical in determining our industry's ability to open up further. These 6 requirements are:

• Ensure physical distancing
• Wear a mask
• Practice good hygiene
• Act quickly if staff become unwell
• Avoid interactions in enclosed spaces
• Create workforce bubbles.

 
Master Builders Victoria’s conversations on the impact of restrictions are ongoing, with particular concern for the impact on large-scale construction and the renovations market. Our team is also available to help you in understanding what these rules mean for your business.