Business Category: Safety / Industrial Category: Professional Services

ACTU Workplace Resources Checklist

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This comprehensive checklist supports organizations in evaluating and strengthening their COVID-19 workplace management strategies. It provides structured prompts covering paid leave entitlements, workers' compensation pathways, exposure response planning, infection control through hygiene and cleaning protocols, PPE and first aid readiness, remote work support, and inclusive consultation with unions and workers. Use this resource to assess existing controls, identify improvement opportunities, and safeguard health, safety, and business continuity.

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ACTU Workplace Resources Checklist
Based on

How to Use This Checklist

  • **Workplace Health & Safety Assessment.** Combines the practical controls: physical distancing measures, seasonal influenza vaccinations where arranged, hygiene communication, handwashing and hand sanitiser provision, cleaning and sanitisation schedules, PPE issue where risk assessments indicate a need, shared equipment disinfection protocols, and first aid kit and officer readiness.
  • **Pay and Conditions.** Covers whether a paid special leave policy is accessible to all employees who are unwell or required to self-isolate, so workers can report potential exposure without financial concern, and whether the process for applying for leave and workers' compensation claims is documented, easy to find, and clearly communicated across the organisation.
  • **Risk Management and Workplace Support Plans.** Covers the response plan for a confirmed or suspected exposure, the protocols it contains, the route for workers to report symptoms, notify exposure, or provide status updates while unwell or self-isolating, and the communication protocol for notifying workers of a case while maintaining privacy and confidentiality.
  • **Workplace Cleanliness and Hygiene Standards.** Covers visible communication of safe hygiene practices, including proper handwashing techniques and respiratory etiquette, and ready access to handwashing facilities with soap and water plus alcohol-based hand sanitiser of at least 60% alcohol at key entry points and high-traffic areas. Soap and water remain the most effective method for hand hygiene.
  • **Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and First Aid Readiness.** Covers the issue of individual, fit-for-purpose PPE — such as disposable face masks, gloves, or face shields — where risk assessments indicate a need, the documented cleaning and disinfection protocol for shared PPE, tools, and equipment using products such as alcohol-based disinfectants containing at least 60% alcohol, and the inspection, restocking, and updating of first aid kits alongside briefings for designated first aid officers on current infection prevention and control procedures.
  • **Alternative Work Arrangements and Remote Work.** Covers guidance and resources for employees working from home so their environment meets health, safety, and ergonomic standards, and the communication plan that maintains regular contact with remote workers, addressing work-related matters and wellbeing checks.
  • **Consultation and Inclusive Communication.** Covers meaningful consultation with union representatives, Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs), and workplace delegates on the development and implementation of COVID-19 risk management plans, and communication of all COVID-19 related information, policies, and updates in a manner that accounts for workers with diverse language needs, varying abilities, and different communication preferences.

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Key aspects

The checklist organises everything into seven sections, running from health and safety controls through pay, risk management, hygiene, PPE and first aid, remote work, and consultation. The prompts that follow trace the same ground: physical distancing arrangements, hygiene communication and handwashing access, cleaning and sanitisation schedules, PPE issue and shared equipment protocols, first aid readiness, remote work guidance and contact, and consultation with unions, Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs), and workplace delegates. Where the checklist references a threshold or a standard, it does so explicitly: alcohol-based hand sanitiser and alcohol-based disinfectants are to contain at least 60% alcohol, and cleaning and sanitisation schedules are to meet or exceed public health guidelines. It also names the Department of Health and the relevant state or territory work health and safety regulator among the parties to notify after an exposure. Treat those as the checkpoints to work against when you complete each section with your team.

Why it matters

A workplace that manages COVID-19 well protects more than health. It keeps people paid while they are away, keeps work areas safe for those who return, and keeps the business running when a case or a close-contact situation interrupts normal operations. The checklist places this responsibility on both sides of the employment relationship: the employer provides the policies, controls, and communication, and workers use them. A concern raised only when you are asked the checklist question is harder to address than one you have already planned for, which is why the checklist is worth completing before an exposure occurs rather than after.

How to use it

Work through the checklist section by section, and answer each question as it stands in your workplace rather than as you intend it to stand. Where an answer is "No," note the gap and the action to close it alongside the result. A few practical points: 1. Complete the identification fields first, so a later reader can tell who carried out the check, where, and when. 2. Where a question asks whether something is documented, check the document exists and that workers can find it, rather than relying on memory. 3. Where a question asks whether workers have access to something, confirm it in practice — walk the entry points, the high-traffic areas, and the first aid kits. 4. Capture "N/A" only where the question genuinely does not apply, such as PPE issue where no risk assessment has indicated a need. 5. Revisit the checklist after any exposure, after a change in work arrangements, and at regular intervals so the answers remain current.

Who it is for

The checklist is written for anyone in an organisation who carries responsibility for workplace health and safety and for keeping work going during COVID-19 disruption: health and safety officers and managers, human resources and payroll staff handling leave and compensation, line managers supporting remote workers, and the union representatives, Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs), and workplace delegates whose consultation the checklist asks for.

Completing it well

The value of the checklist comes from the quality of the answers, not the count of them. A "Yes" should mean the control is in place and you have evidence for it — the policy exists, the process is documented, the facility is stocked, the briefing has happened, the consultation has occurred. Where you find a gap, record it plainly and set a date for fixing it. Use it as a living record. A response plan that was communicated before an exposure, a cleaning schedule that matches current operations, and a communication plan that still reaches every remote worker are all things that drift over time. Checking back against the same questions is how you catch that drift before it matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Checking that workers can afford to stay away while unwell or self-isolating. A good policy gives every worker access to paid special leave, so nobody has to choose between reporting a possible exposure and losing pay. The checklist prompts you on this entitlement before it moves into response planning. If you cannot answer "yes," treat that as your first improvement action.

Putting it in writing, making it easy to find, and telling every worker where it is. Workers need a documented process for applying for leave and for making workers' compensation claims, communicated across the whole organisation rather than left with managers to explain case by case. The checklist groups this under Pay and Conditions alongside the paid leave policy.

It needs to be both written and communicated before you need it. The checklist asks whether a comprehensive response plan exists for a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 exposure, and takes it further with the protocols it must contain: isolating and securing the affected area, deep cleaning and disinfection, identifying and following up with close contacts, and notifying the Department of Health and the relevant state or territory work health and safety regulator. Walk through each of those four elements and note which are missing or untested.

Set it up so the route is clear, confidential, and accessible to every worker. Workers should be able to report symptoms, notify a potential exposure, or give a status update while unwell or self-isolating without wondering who will see it or whether it will count against them. The checklist places this under Risk Management and Workplace Support Plans. Test the route with workers who are away from the workplace as well as those on site, since self-isolating workers are the ones most likely to need it.

Match the measure to the work. The checklist lists transitions from in-person meetings to virtual platforms, reconfiguring workspace layouts, and holding toolbox talks in areas that allow for adequate physical distancing. What matters is whether the arrangements you have chosen genuinely reduce unnecessary close contact in the spaces your workers actually use, not whether a generic set of measures is on paper. Review how people move through the workplace and where they gather.

Two things: visible communication about safe hygiene, and physical access to what is being promoted. The checklist asks whether safe hygiene practices are communicated across the workplace, including proper handwashing and respiratory etiquette, and whether workers can readily reach handwashing facilities with soap and water plus alcohol-based hand sanitiser of at least 60% alcohol, positioned at key entry points and high-traffic areas. It notes that soap and water remain the most effective method. If signage is present but facilities are not, the control is not in place.

A documented schedule that meets or exceeds public health guidelines, with particular attention to high-touch surfaces and shared equipment. The checklist treats cleaning as an ongoing schedule rather than a one-off exercise. Whether that schedule is realistic for your workplace is worth testing against how often the surfaces in question are actually touched. Where it falls short, record the gap and the action you will take.

Only where risk assessments indicate a need. The checklist asks whether workers have been issued with individual, fit-for-purpose PPE such as disposable face masks, gloves, or face shields to minimise transmission risk in those circumstances. It also asks whether shared PPE, tools, or equipment have a documented cleaning and disinfection protocol, with alcohol-based disinfectants containing at least 60% alcohol. PPE issued without a plan for shared equipment will not hold up. Record what was issued, to whom, and how shared items are cleaned.

Inspect, restock, and update every first aid kit, and brief designated first aid officers on current infection prevention and control procedures. The checklist pairs the physical stock check with the briefing, because a stocked kit is of limited use if the officer responding has not been brought up to date. If you cannot name your designated officers or the date of their last briefing, that is your gap.

Give them guidance and resources covering health, safety, and ergonomics for the home working environment, and keep in touch. The checklist asks for a communication plan that maintains regular contact with remote workers and provides timely updates on both work matters and wellbeing checks. Guidance without contact, or contact without guidance, leaves half the support missing. Confirm what remote workers have received and when they last heard from their manager.

Meaningful consultation with union representatives, Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs), and workplace delegates on the development and implementation of the COVID-19 risk management plans. The checklist asks about consultation during both development and implementation, not a single briefing at the end. It also asks whether all COVID-19 related information, policies, and updates are communicated inclusively, accounting for workers with diverse language needs, varying abilities, and different communication preferences. If your communication reaches some of the workforce and not others, your consultation is incomplete.

A clear protocol for notifying workers promptly when a suspected or confirmed case occurs, while maintaining appropriate privacy and confidentiality. The checklist places this alongside the requirement to notify the Department of Health and the relevant state or territory work health and safety regulator. Prompt notification and confidentiality are not in tension if the protocol separates what workers need to know from information that identifies the affected person. Check that everyone involved in the notification knows their part before an incident happens.
Arne Reis
Written by
Arne Reis
Founder

Process optimizer with 25 years of expertise, focused on operational excellence in quality, maintenance, EHS, and commissioning. Emphasizes innovative solutions and top-quality standards.

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