The Australian Sign & Graphics Association (ASGA) has updated members on Stage Four Covid-19 restrictions in Victoria and how they will affect business operations. “It is an unfortunate reality for most businesses that your work will dry up very quickly. Within one week, you may find that you have little or no work regardless of your decision to keep operating.”
ASGA update: Do I need to shut down?
Please review the attached Stage 4 Restrictions document:
Attachment-A-Stage-4-Industries-Distribution_FINAL (1) (1).pdf
"Information is still being updated constantly in this area, but much of the details have become clearer and I will try to summarise what we know now," said ASGA Victoria chair Mick Harrold.
"The Government has broken down sectors to categorise us based on our primary business function. They have also provided three levels of work that are permitted: -
Closed (for on-site works) – means you must close your workshop and staff are not to attend site. Staff can still work from home. Required to close on site operations from 11.59 pm on Wednesday 5 August.
Open (for on-site works) - COVID Safe Plan– means your workshop premises can remain open, but must operate under a "COVID Safe Plan"
Restricted Operations or Industry Specific Obligations – rules specific to a sector.
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| "Most sign and print businesses in Victoria will be shutting their doors": ASGA VIC chair Mick Harrold |
"I will try and break down the Sectors below," Harrold said. "However, even if you decide that you are able to remain open, remember that most businesses will be closing or operating at somewhere close to 25% capacity. It is an unfortunate reality for most businesses that your work will dry up very quickly. Within one week, you may find that you have little or no work regardless of your decision to keep operating
"Stage 4 restrictions are tough and many businesses will fail and many more employees will lose their jobs. The hope is that these extreme measures allow Victorian Businesses to return to full operations as quickly as possible. We are encouraging everyone to do the right thing here and abide by these rules. The quicker that this is brought under control the quicker that we can return to normal. It is a long drawn out process that will really kill our businesses.
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Manufacturing
"This covers printing, fabricating signs and so on. It covers everything that goes into producing the signs that we sell to our customers. A simple way of looking at this is things produced within the walls of your own business.
I have cherry picked a few of the items that may allow you to remain open: -
- Goods and material necessary for or related to supporting defence or security industries
- Manufacturing to support residential building industry
- Printing and support services
- Manufacturing to support critical infrastructure public works
This is a small list. The printing category does allow many of our members to remain open. However, it is likely that the work will dry up here and a skeleton crew at best will be required.
If you do deem that you can stay open, you will need a COVID Safe Plan. Refer to the link below for details here.
Construction
Installation of signs. This covers all on site works, whether it is for a builder or the local Dominos. It also covers all kinds of signs from stickers to pylon signs.
While at first glance it may seem that some work will go on here, I will draw your attention to 1 rule "Must demonstrate not blending shifts and workers can only work at one site during Stage 4". This will rule out staff being able to attend multiple sites, meaning your installers can only attend one worksite (your workshop) and no other worksite.
Essentially, the installation of signs will not be possible during this lock down. There may be some loop holes if you are working on large scale State Government works, or if your work is on critical infrastructure, but by and large, you will not be installing any signs.
Wholesale Trade
This covers businesses who supply signs, print and supplies to the trade. The sign industry is almost exclusively Business to Business, so we are wholesale trade, not retail.
The rule that defines whether you are allowed to remain open: "Wholesale trade, unrelated to food and medical supplies, will cease except where it is critical to supply a permitted service."
The point of note is "Permitted Service" in this statement. It means that you can continue to supply signs to businesses that are permitted to remain open, ie, you can supply paper to a print company, or safety stickers to a food retailer. This will end up being a self-regulating rule anyway, as only businesses permitted to operate will be ordering from you anyway.
Conclusion
By and large, most sign and print businesses in Victoria will be shutting their doors. Those that can remain open will be doing so under strict rules and with a vastly reduced workload.
You will then have many questions about what you can do with your staff. This is a complex question depending on your business. We have attached the previous Bulletins that were released by our legal partner, Warwick Ryan, at Hicksons.
Also note that the State Government is advancing further grants to businesses. There is a link below to this.
Can I suggest that you look at the following resources:
General Advice:
https://www.business.vic.gov.au/
State Government Grants:
COVID Safe Plan:
Upskilling your Business:
https://upskill.business.vic.gov.au/?_ga=2.65821870.1658619941.1596490084-1332964672.1592976980
Australian Government Health Department:
Fair Work Ombudsman:
Regards,
Mick Harrold
