Infection control is central to working in the healthcare system. It’s vital for you, your colleagues, and people in our care.
This section focuses on:
- The actions you can take to be safe at work
- Vaccinations
- The latest news and updates for healthcare workers
Staying safe at work
A daily attestation
If you work in a public or private hospital, community health centre, GP clinic or aged care facility you must complete a daily attestation before starting work, declaring that you do not have any COVID-19 symptoms. If you do, you must stay home and get tested.
By doing this each day you help keep yourself and Victorians safe.
Know your COVID-19 plan
Any change in community COVID risks impacts your practices at work. From PPE, COVID testing, elective surgery, visitor protocols or where you can work and when.
See Victorian health service guidance and response to COVID-19 risks page to find out your latest COVID risk rating. It also shows what will change if risk ratings change, and the actions you can take to help keep your safe.
Managing exposure in the workplace
We all have a role to play in preventing infection in our workplace. Part of this is making sure we understand the advice around standard and transmission based precautions, contact, airborne and droplet precautions.
Download the posters for more detail on standard, airborne and droplet control precautions (PDF).
Cleaning practices
Keeping workplaces clean is essential to infection control as we’ve seen over the past year.
If you are unsure about specific cleaning practices, you should ask your manager what processes you need to follow. For more information, see infection prevention control resources page.
Surveillance testing
Surveillance testing is the regular and scheduled COVID-19 testing of staff who do not have symptoms and work in high-risk settings like treating suspected COVID patients, or residents in aged care.
This is a crucial program. It keeps us safe.
Vaccinations
COVID-19
Working in a healthcare setting, means that you may be at a higher risk of exposure to illnesses such as influenza and COVID-19.
This is why the vaccination program is so important for everyone who works in a health setting – and why healthcare workers are prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
Your employer will provide you with information about the COVID-19 vaccine but you can also check your eligibility at COVID-19 vaccines . If you are eligible, visit book your vaccine appointment for more booking information.There are two vaccines in the COVID-19 program meaning not everyone will receive the same vaccine. Vaccines approved for use in Australia meet the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s strict guidelines. You can see what vaccine you will receive on the Australian Government .
Other vaccinations
It’s also important to make sure you keep up to date on your other vaccinations too - including the flu vaccine. Talk to your employer about where and when you can receive the flu vaccine.
If you work in a clinical environment, or with children, you may need more vaccinations. Check out the below more information:
Daily attestation video
- Hi, I’m Andrew Wilson, Victoria’s Chief Medical Officer.
As restrictions ease, the Victorian Government is implementing a range of infection prevention and control initiatives to make workplaces safer for Victorian healthcare
workers and the wider community.
Coronavirus is highly infectious and causes only mild symptoms in some people. To help slow the spread of the virus we recommend primary care providers ask all clinical and non-clinical practice staff to complete a daily
attestation before starting each shift.
A daily attestation, or declaration, reminds everyone to consider their health before they start work.
Staff will be asked to confirm that they're free of coronavirus symptoms and that they have not had any contact with someone confirmed to have coronavirus in the past 14 days.
This helps the community feel safe to return to their GP and other health services.
It will ensure clinics are safe for patients and the people who work in them.
We all have a role to play to keep our workplaces and community safe.
Please stay home if you are unwell and get tested if you have any symptoms.
And remember, financial support is available for Victorian workers who need to isolate while waiting for test results. Thank you.
Reviewed 18 November 2021