News

Dear People Leaders,

Looking forward to 2022, the safety of our teams, co-workers and community remains our number one priority.

As leaders, it’s up to us to encourage and support our people to consider additional safety precautions to further protect themselves against COVID-19. In addition to the COVIDSafe Measures Policy, there are a number of initiatives our people can take, both in their community and at work.

Positive case: advice for leaders

In the event that someone in your team contracts COVID-19, your responsibility is to provide advice to the Incident Management Team (IMT) Leads and work with them to complete the positive case process.

If someone in your team contracts COVID-19, please immediately complete the COVID-19 Positive cases report form (available 24 hours).

If you contract COVID-19, you must advise your leader immediately.

If you need support, contact the TSS Service Centre or call 133 TSS (133 877) – available over the break from 8am – 5pm, Monday 27 – Friday 31 December 2021 and Monday 3 January 2022.

For more information in the positive case process, leave and support documents, visit StayInformed – positive case notification.

Booster shot support payment is available

Consistent with the initial COVID-19 Vaccine rollout, Transport is now providing a COVID-19 Booster Shot Support Payment.

Transport staff can apply for an additional two hours base pay to attend a booster shot appointment. There are eligibility guidelines on when to book a booster shot - if you’re eligible, find out where to book a COVID-19 booster. All Award, Agreement and Senior Service employees are eligible for this payment, whether fixed-term or permanent.

As leaders, you will receive an email notification for each form submitted within your team. Please review and progress the form as soon as you’re able. If you have any questions about the booster shot support payment, please speak with your People & Culture Business Partner.

Reporting self-isolation cases

If you have a team member who is required to self-isolate as a result of exposure to COVID-19 either at or outside of the work place, you must immediately fill out the self-isolation reporting form.

Anyone isolating should always follow the advice in the NSW Health self isolation rules. Once a team member is cleared by NSW Health to end isolation, you should liaise with them on return to work protocols.

For more information, read the Leader’s Guide – supporting your people when a team member is a close contact / in isolation.

Public health update

Following the Premier’s announcement yesterday, please be advised:

• QR codes are again compulsory for indoor venues, and everyone is reminded to check in when attending a workplace or site controlled by Transport.
• Face masks are now mandatory in all public indoor settings until 27 January 2022. This includes Transport worksites, as well as all public transport services across the network.
• The current capacity restrictions of 75 per cent will remain on public transport until late January, instead of increasing to 100 per cent at the end of December 2021.
• Transport employees are encouraged to work from home until the end of January, if their role allows. Where this is not feasible, we encourage COVIDSafe measures both on and off-site so that we can continue to keep our workplaces as safe as possible.

Rapid Antigen Testing

We are investigating Rapid Antigen Tests for our frontline workers as a priority, and will communicate more detail as it comes to hand.

Additional safety measures

We are all responsible for managing our own personal safety, and as people leaders - we all play a key role in supporting our people to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

We continue to encourage all Transport workers to:

• wear a face mask in non-public facing workplaces, even if fully vaccinated
• practice physical distancing wherever possible
• regularly wash and sanitise your hands
• stay home if unwell and getting tested.

As the COVID-19 landscape continues to evolve over time, we will continue to monitor and communicate any updates to ensure our workplaces remain as safe as possible for our people.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our people, I wish you all a pleasant and restful holiday season.

Kind regards,

Tracey

Tracey Taylor

Chief People Officer

People and Culture Division

Transport for NSW

With new contacts of the current community cases being identified all the time, it is important you know what you have to do if you get told you are one and the rules around self-isolating.

If someone in your workplace has tested positive for COVID-19, you may be identified as a close, casual or low risk contact.

According to NSW Health’s COVID-19 contact risk assessment for general workplace settings, a fully vaccinated person may be classified as a close or casual contact if they:

• Had close-range (<1.5m) contact with the case during the case’s infectious period
• Were in a room smaller than 100m2 with the case for 15 minutes or more during the case’s infectious period.

Vaccination status and masks further differentiate the level of risk.

A person may be considered a low risk contact depending on their vaccination status, range of contact and mask wearing. Refer to the contact risk assessment for general workplace settings for full details.

NSW Health has updated the advice on self-isolation. It is important for the ongoing control of COVID-19 in our workplaces and NSW to follow NSW Health advice.

If you are a close contact, follow NSW Health advice for close contacts.

If you are a casual contact, follow NSW Health advice for casual contact.

Low risk contacts should monitor for symptoms and if symptoms develop get a PCR test and self-isolate.

You must self-isolate when it is necessary in line with NSW Government rules. Learn more about the updated self-isolation rules on the NSW Government website.

Please be aware that you are not allowed to enter a Transport workplace when you are supposed to be self-isolating. You should discuss working arrangements with your manager during this period, e.g., if it is possible to work from home. Employees who cannot work from home, can apply for special leave with the relevant evidence provided. People leaders, use this guide to support your people - when a team member is in self- isolation.

We recently held an interactive livestream with our Chief Health Officer Dr Casolin, to answer your COVID-19 health related questions. Missed the livestream? You can watch the replay.

We’re almost two years into the pandemic and there’s been a lot of new information to wrap our heads around. So we asked Dr Casolin, to lend his expertise and answer your questions about COVID-19, vaccinations and other safety measures in place.

Top questions answered

Q: Are there alternatives to vaccination? For instance, can surveillance testing be used as an alternative to vaccination?

A: It depends what you’re aiming to achieve. If you’re aiming to reduce your own personal risk of transmitting an unknown infection to someone else then yes you could use rapid antigen testing. If you test yourself at home and are negative, then you can have a high degree of confidence that you’re not going to infect someone else. However, there are two important additional considerations. One is your risk of catching COVID from someone else. The second is your risk of suffering a severe episode should you contract COVID. Undertaking surveillance testing won’t alter these risks.

Q: How long does the COVID vaccination last and will we need to get a booster shot at certain intervals?

A: Six months is the figure after which you need to have a third dose, which isn’t unusual as there are other vaccines that require three doses such as Hepatitis B. We don’t know yet how long immunity might last after the third dose.

Q: When do you think children under 12 will be able to be vaccinated and are they at greater risk until then?

A: Pfizer have given data to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on use of vaccines in 5 – 12 years olds so it may not be too long before we can start vaccinating that age group. Children are less likely than adults to have a severe episode from COVID but that’s not to say it could never happen, particularly in a vulnerable child.

Q: When will Novavax be available in Australia?

A: Novavax submitted their application to the TGA in the last week. The data regarding the efficacy of Novavax seems to be as good as the other vaccines we are using now so it will depend on the timing it takes to be approved and rolled out.

Q: On a windy day is there potential for the virus to travel further and cause infection to people who are more than 1.5 meters away from someone who is infected?

A: If it’s windy you might think that the virus can travel further but it also gets dispersed, which is why it’s safer to be outside.

Q: Do we mix and match our boosters or do we have the same vaccine?

A: For the time being Pfizer is the main vaccine being used for 3^rd doses, so people who were initially vaccinated with AstraZeneca won’t receive the same vaccine.

More information

If you’d like hear all of the questions and answers, you can watch the full replay of the livestream.

You can also visit StayInformed for the latest COVID-19 updates.

As the year draws to a close and NSW is firmly on the road to recovery with eased restrictions, it’s a time when many of us want to come together and celebrate. With this in mind, it’s important to take the time to consider how to keep ourselves and each other safe – as well as having fun!

We know a lot of you want to start planning end of year events and have questions about how and where they can be held. While a number of eased restrictions mean we can get together in some ways, we are still working through what the current restrictions and those post-December 1 will mean for events in our Transport offices and workplaces. Please read more in the FAQs to help guide you when planning events.

Under the updated NSW Government roadmap the requirement to wear a mask in office buildings, for those who are fully vaccinated, has been removed at the 80 per cent double vaccination milestone. This means that from Monday 18 October the rules around wearing masks in our offices have changed.

While our advice remains to continue to work from home if you can, if you do need to attend one of our offices and are fully vaccinated, mask wearing will no longer be mandatory, however we do encourage you to continue to wear a mask, especially in situations where physical distancing may be difficult to maintain.

If you are a fully vaccinated person attending a Transport office and choose to no longer wear a mask you will need to show your manager proof of your vaccination status, this can be done by showing your vaccination certificate or an immunisation statement.

Mask wearing remains mandatory in certain instances:

• On all public transport services and waiting areas.
• In offices if you need to attend and are not fully vaccinated eg your job cannot be done from home.
• At critical Transport sites including signal boxes and at the Rail Operations Centre there are specific mask wearing instructions to be followed. If you work in one of these sites you will be made aware of the requirements.

NSW Health have updated their rules around self-isolation dependant on your vaccination status;

• If you have COVID-19, you must self-isolate for at least 14 days – even if you’re vaccinated.
• Close contacts who are vaccinated must self-isolate for 7 days (and limit their movements for the next 7 days). Close contacts who are not vaccinated must isolate for 14 days.
• Casual contacts need to get tested and self-isolate until you get a negative test result - even if you are vaccinated.
• If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, get tested immediately and self-isolate until you get a negative result - even if you‘re vaccinated.

For more information on the self-isolation rules head to the self-isolation page on the NSW Government website.

Note: This update does not apply to frontline employees and employees who are unable to work from home.

Transport Staff who can perform their role at home should continue to do so while we prepare for return to offices and our hybrid ways of working. However, we recognise that people have been at home for some time and some people may be having trouble coping.

If an employee requests to come into an office for wellbeing reasons an assessment needs to be made regarding the best way to support the employee.

If the manager determines the staff member should come in to the office then they must check vaccination status. Under the Public Health Order, staff who can work from home must be fully vaccinated to attend an office.

The manager must seek endorsement from People and Change - Role 75 (Director Business Partnering for TfNSW, Sydney Trains & NSW TrainLink) or Role 60 (for Sydney Metro & STA).

Once endorsed by the People and Change delegate the manager must sight the vaccination evidence and declare that they have done so via the manager declaration form.

Once the declaration form has been completed the employee will receive a confirmation email. Once this confirmation email has been received, the employee is able to attend Transport offices as approved by their manager.

If you have any questions please contact your HR representative.

Who does this process apply to?

This approval process applies to employees who can perform their roles from home. Any workers that cannot work from home (i.e. they must attend the office to use particular equipment/systems essential for their role) are not subject to this approval and evidence sighting process.

Do I follow this process for organising team meetings?

No. Face to face meetings should not be happening at this time and should continue to occur virtually.

How is evidence of vaccination provided?

The evidence needs to be sighted by the manager, for example over MS Teams video call. The evidence should not be stored by the manager.

Does the above process apply to labour hire working from home?

Yes.