The Wellington region will move to Alert Level 2 after a person who travelled from Sydney to Wellington tested positive for the virus. The restrictions will be effective from 6 pm Wednesday 23 June until midnight on Sunday 27 June.

The rules for employers at Alert Level 2 are:

  • Your business can operate if you can do so safely.
  • Engage your staff to identify risks and make sure you have measures in place to manage them.
  • Ask everyone — workers, contractors and customers — with cold or flu-like symptoms to go home and stay home.
  • Your employees must keep one metre apart in the workplace, and customers in retail businesses must keep two metres distance between themselves and others.
  • You’re legally required to display a QR code and provide an alternative contact tracing system.
  • If you or anyone on your premises are in close contact with others, face masks are encouraged.
  • Make sure you’re regularly disinfecting shared spaces between use.
  • Wash hands, sneeze into your elbow, follow good hygiene practice.

Customer-facing businesses, please note:

  • Under level 2 guidelines, companies can continue to have customers on-site or provide services on a client’s premises.
  • Retail businesses will need to put in measures to keep customers 2 metres apart.
  • Venues have a 100-person limit as long as everyone can keep a safe one-metre distance.

Locations of interest

The restrictions are considered proportional to the risk and to reduce the risk of community transmission. The Ministry of Health is urging the Wellington public and recent visitors to the region to continue checking the locations of interest as new information becomes available. People who have been at these locations coinciding with the positive case should immediately isolate and call Healthline for testing advice.

Remember the basics

As an employer you can remind your people to remain vigilant and remember to:

  • stay home if unwell and get advice about having a test;
  • wash hands regularly, cough and sneeze into the elbow;
  • wear masks or face coverings on all public transport; and
  • keep track of where you’ve been — scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard.

The HR Assured team have sourced this guidance from the COVID-19 Government website. Please refer to the Unite Against Covid-19 website for alert level updates.

If you have any questions about how these restrictions may impact your workplace, please do not hesitate to contact the team at HR Assured.

For HR Assured clients, contact our 24/7 Telephone Advisory Service.

Not an HR Assured client and need some advice? The team at HR Assured can support your business on a range of workplace matters. Contact us today to arrange a confidential, no-obligation chat.