NZ Vaccination Assessment Tool

Hi everyone! Wondering how the new govt vaccination assessment tool works?

This week on HR Insights we have our HR Advisor Charlotte sharing with you the 4 factors of the new government COVID-19 vaccination assessment tool as well as what they mean for your business.

The long-anticipated Vaccination Assessment Tool was enacted on Wednesday. The purpose of this tool is for employers to determine whether it is reasonable to require workers to be vaccinated in order to carry out their work, essentially whether there are sufficient grounds to mandate vaccinations in the workplace.

Four Factors

There are four key factors to consider.

1) Environmental Factor

This is whether a worker works in an internal area smaller than 100 square metres. The legislation states that an indoor area is a place that is fully enclosed once all closable openings are closed such as windows and doors.

2) Proximity Factor

This is whether it is unreasonable for a worker to carry out work at a distance of 1 metre from others.

3) Time Factor

This is whether a worker carries out work for more than 15 minutes in less than 1 metre proximity to others. These 15 minutes must be in close proximity. So, if a worker only interacts closely (at a distance less than 1 metre) with others for 5 minutes at a time it would not likely be reasonable that this factor is met.

4) Vulnerability Factor

This is whether a worker provides service to others who are considered to be vulnerable. In this context vulnerable means people who are either too young to get vaccinated, exempt from vaccination or are at risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

These are the four factors and if an employer determines that 3 or 4 factors are met, it is reasonable for the employer to require vaccination.

A few important points to remember are:

-          This must be completed on each role unless roles are substantially similar.

-          Consultation with the employee and representatives must still occur.

-          This tool does not protect employers from personal grievances so proper employment processes must still take place.

It is at the discretion of employers whether they choose to use this tool to complete a risk assessment. It doesn’t replace a previous health and safety risk assessment so if employers have already done a health and safety risk assessment before the vaccination assessment tool was introduced, you don’t need to do a new assessment.

 
lf you've got any questions regarding this new tool and how it impacts your business then give one of our HR advisors (Charlotte or Josh) a call 03-366 4034!