As Melbourne business owners decide their next move under Stage 4 lockdown restrictions, the Australian Sign and Graphics Association (ASGA) has been inundated with calls from members seeking clarity about the measures they need to have in place if they choose to remain open.
 |
| Previous signage installation in Melbourne (courtesy Nepean Sign Works) |
ASGA Victorian chair Mick Harrold, who's also MD of Sunshine West sign company Visual Exposure, said he personally would have just one of his 18 staff members on site tomorrow.
The association has been flooded with calls from members seeking information about the lockdown measures and exemptions, he said.
 |
| "Some businesses won't survive this": ASGA Victorian chair Mick Harrold |
“The full range of emotions was on display as were the positions people took. People thought we were endorsing businesses staying open when in their opinion, they should definitely close. Others took the opposite stance and felt we were putting up the white flag and should be fighting.
“Firstly, I understand the heightened emotions here. Some businesses won't survive this. The ones that do are certain to lose money. Almost no business can come out of this six-week period without losing money and that is a bitter pill to swallow. I also have opinions about what is happening and what should happen. But my opinions are irrelevant and only cloud my understanding of the opinions of the Government setting the rules. All we can do as an Association is to help disseminate the information that is provided to us at that time. We have to take the emotion out of it and just provide the details as they exist on that day. We note that things do change as well.”
“We have some further advice for those choosing to remain open,” Harrold said.
Work Permits
If you are choosing to remain open, any workers that are attending your workshop will need to have a permit to do so. If they are stopped by the police and they don't have one, they can be fined. A copy of this permit document is in the following link. https://www.justice.vic.gov.au/permitted-worker-scheme
Note that there is a declaration that the employer and the employee will need to sign. Essentially it is asking you to acknowledge that you are doing this work as part of an "Essential Service". The fines for providing false statement here are
Individuals : Up to $19,826.40
Bodies Corporate : Up to $99,132.00
With some eye watering numbers here, you would want to be sure that your workers are indeed providing an essential service. We would advise anyone with a grey area to think twice about how grey that activity really is.
Also note on this form that they are asking for the Employee Work Location and allowing more than one site to be entered. You must keep a log of the sites that you have visited. On the surface, this seems to allow for installers to attend more than one site and is a relaxation of the rules. This is a common sense situation when you take into account someone like a refrigeration worker who needs to service fridges at multiple supermarkets. However, you need to read this in conjunction with the "Permitted Activity" statements. This is not a carte blanche to just start installing again. If you are caught with a Dominos sign in the back of the ute, you will have no chance of arguing with the 25 year old police officer that this is "Essential".
COVID Safe Plan
If you are remaining open, you will also need to have a COVID Safe Plan for your workplace. Information about this can be found in the following link:
Final Advice
I will preface this by saying that you must always take your own counsel here. We can only help with an interpretation of the rules and these rules are changing often.
The intention of these rules is to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the community. The Government has set out to write rules that either shut down businesses completely or at the minimum, leave them in "Pilot Light" status. They are allowing exemptions from this for "Essential Services". Forget the legal rules and the grey areas and so on. Read that last bit again and you will find all the answers you need. Is my signage project "Essential"? If you can't clearly argue that it is, then you already have the answers you need. The Government's intention is to shut you down. It shouldn't come as a surprise when they succeed in doing this. We are not offering an opinion of this, just a statement of facts.
Over the last few days, we have learned that of 3000 doors knocked on, 800 people infected with COVID-19 were not at home. The State has reeled at those numbers and public condemnation is at monumental levels. I would hate to be one of those 800 people regardless of how "grey" my excuses were for leaving home. I mention this, because many people who have contacted me are looking for grey areas to allow them to keep going. I imagine many of these same people condemn the 800 "Selfish ones" that weren't at home. The irony cannot be lost here. If you are caught doing something illegal, the fines may be the least of your worries when you are front page on every newspaper in town.
I will explore the "Permitted Works" statement. We will always fall into providing support for someone in the "Permitted works" category. That is supermarkets, hospitals and so on, i.e., essential services. It also includes some construction which has been allowed to operate at 25% and this last category provides the largest amount of grey here. However, I think that grey will be cleared up by the builders who will quickly move to protect their own workers in being part of the 25% allowed on site. They are unlikely to allow the humble signie on site at the expense of one of their own staff.
I will provide an example that came from one of our members (Steen Zimmerman – thanks!) after he held talks with the Victorian Chamber of Commerce: -
If our trade is needed to directly support the new essential community (medical & food production), i.e., sneeze guards or COVID stickers that are a necessity for them to complete their job over the next six weeks, it is allowed but you will need a letter from the essential service for the work. However, a new fascia for a hospital isn’t classified as essential and has to be left till after the lock down. Preparing quotes and artwork from home is allowed. So shops that are producing screens for retail and are going to use that as an excuse to stay open and produce other work will definitely find themselves in a bad situation if caught.
Is the job you are doing essential? Ask yourself this and you will already have the answers you need to most of that question. Big fines await if you get it wrong. I personally will have one of my 18 staff members on site tomorrow and only because we do have a small amount of permitted works.
Will I get caught? Well there won't be a lot of cars on the road, so there will be a lot less people to pull over and question. Also, if a police car drives down the street and sees all the businesses closed, but yours with ten cars out the front, then expect them to come in for a chat.
I am not advising you to do anything here. You must keep your own counsel. Every business is different. But before deciding to stay open, make sure you are well informed and that is what we are hoping to do here.
Regards,
Mick Harrold
ASGA Victorian Chair &
Managing Director Visual Exposure
