Australia Model Code of Practice Managing the Risks of Biological Hazards at Work 6.1-ADMIN: Minimise remaining risk with administrative controls: policies and procedures for vaccination against workplace vaccine-preventable diseases per the Australian Immunisation Handbook, hygiene and distancing, routine and post-exposure cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation, inspection and maintenance including monitoring and treatment of air handling, water systems and cooling towers, surveillance testing of staff in contact with vulnerable people during high transmission, waste storage, handling, treatment and disposal, outbreak and pandemic policies; changed work methods such as more frequent cleaning and task rotation; information, training, instruction and signage; and checks that administrative controls are followed

What does 6.1-ADMIN require?

Risk that survives substitution, isolation and engineering is reduced, so far as reasonably practicable, with administrative measures: policies and procedures that cut exposure, plus the information, training, instruction and supervision that let people work safely. Some administrative measures are indispensable to the higher controls anyway, such as safe work procedures for using equipment. Examples, always alongside higher-order controls: policies that encourage or provide vaccination against the vaccine-preventable diseases present at the workplace, following the current Australian Immunisation Handbook (Appendix F); policies that promote hygiene, physical distancing and hand hygiene; routine cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation, repeated after any known or possible exposure; inspection and maintenance programmes with spot checks for likely sources and regular monitoring, testing and treatment of air handling plant, water systems and cooling towers so that Legionella cannot take hold; surveillance testing of staff and others who work with vulnerable people (an aged care home) during periods of high community transmission, using antigen tests for RSV, influenza and COVID-19; a waste system that labels and seals containers, autoclaves or incinerates microbiological waste and moves pathological waste in secure containers; and written plans for outbreaks and pandemics. Tasks can also be reorganised, cleaning a piece of equipment more often, or rotating exposure-prone jobs such as cleaning the shared facilities in worker accommodation across the crew. Information, training and instruction cover awareness of the hazards, their sources, exposure routes, harms and prevention, workers' leave entitlements including sick leave, the controls in place and how to work safely, the policies and procedures including whom to tell and what to do after an exposure, and signage such as hand washing instructions in bathrooms. Any administrative control that is relied on should be checked for compliance.