Keeping Our Community Safe
Living Safely With COVID-19
BlueFit are proud to provide a wide range of leisure and recreation services to local communities throughout Australia. Many of our patrons are vulnerable members of the community including older adults, babies and those under medical care. Transmission of COVID-19 in our Facilities has the potential to cause serious illness and death for these people as well as our staff who may be living with compromised immune systems.
Our mission has always been Inspiring Community Activity and we want to ensure our staff are leading the way in encouraging everyone in the community to actively roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated.
We’ve been lucky enough to secure advanced access to vaccines for our staff in Sydney at the Hurstville Vaccine Hub
Leisure and fitness centres play an important role in the health and wellbeing of our communities and it’s vital that we are able to keep these facilities open going forward. We are committed to the health of our staff, our patrons and the industry as a whole. For this reason we will be mandating COVID Vaccination as a requirefor all staff, unless a medical exemption is in place.
Given the virus is in various stages across our sites, we are approaching the roll out of the policy in a similar way.
State | Must be fully vaccinated by: |
NSW | 15 October 2021 |
VIC | 31 October 2021 |
QLD | 17 December 2022 |
WA | 31 January 2022 |
SA | Will monitor state government announcements and regulations |
BlueFit Survey Result
The thoughts and opinions of the BlueFit team are incredibly important to us. We asked our employees to participate in a survey to understand their views on COVID-19 vaccines. The insights from the survey will help shape the future at BlueFit as we prepare to reopen our closed facilities and learn to live safely with COVID-19.
As a supporter and partner in delivering the Government’s vaccination program we were thrilled to see such high levels of vaccination amongst our people. In fact, the BlueFit team are out pacing the nation when it comes to shots in arms. This clearly demonstrates your commitment to our communities and keeping our customers and each other safe. We really are leading the way!
965 of our employees completed the survey, representing 61% of the group.
93% of our people have either already had a vaccine or plan to do so when they are able to.
(75% have had a vaccine, 18% are booked in or plan to book in, 5% need more information, 1% can’t have a vaccine for medical reasons, 1% are unwilling to have a vaccine.)
1% of our team members can’t have the vaccine due to medical reasons. We need high vaccination coverage to protect this vulnerable group.
71% of our people believe that the vaccine should be mandatory for staff working in our facilities.
75% of our team have already had at least one shot, compared with 67% of Australians.
(As 10 September 2021 Source: health.gov.au)
Frequently Asked Questions
There are two COVID-19 vaccines currently available in Australia: Pfizer and AstraZeneca with a third, Moderna, shortly to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. You can review your eligibility for vaccines and other relevant information regarding vaccines on your State’s health authority website.
If you are unsure of your eligibility, or have questions regarding the safety or efficacy of available vaccines, we encourage you to speak to your doctor for guidance on these issues.
There is now a ‘COVID Vaccine’ qualification in your Velpic profile. All Workers will be required to provide acceptable evidence of being Fully Vaccinated.
We will accept as evidence a copy of:
- an Immunisation History Statement; or
- a COVID-19 Digital Certificate,
(both of which can be obtained through your MyGov account). We will then delete this file and record as sighted.
That is correct, at the cut-off point listed above for your state. If you are having trouble finding a location to receive your vaccination, please reach out and we can support you with this.
The discrimination legislation prohibits discrimination in certain areas of life, including employment, based on protected attributes such as nationality, disability and pregnancy. Vaccination status is not a protected attribute under the discrimination legislation.
We have no intention of mandating vaccinations for those with genuine medical conditions that have a contraindication to the vaccines. The purpose of mandating is to protect our employees and the community. If your health professional deems it inappropriate for you to receive a vaccine then of course, we understand and you will be granted an exception to policy on these grounds.
If you are subject to a mandatory vaccination requirement and wish to seek an exemption you will need to provide appropriate supporting medical evidence. Please contact teamsupport@bluefit.com.au if you believe that you will require an exemption and we will manage these on a case by case basis.
Unfortunately, no, we require all employees to be double vaccinated before they can be rostered.
Each State has different rules regarding what members of the community can and cannot do. NSW will mandate that anyone attending a gym or indoor recreation facility must be double vaccinated. We believe that the other states will follow the same path and therefore, we are confident that our employees and the communities in which we operate will be kept safe by ensuring all those who can be vaccinated, are vaccinated.
We believe in providing a safe and healthy workplace.
Our decision to mandate vaccination as a condition of employment to protect against the COVID virus, is one way in which we believe we are providing a safe and healthy workplace. We believe this to be a lawful and reasonable direction (unless they have a medical exemption). If you don’t consent to or refuse to meet a mandatory vaccination requirement, your refusal will hinder our ability to meet our legal requirements and the demands of our customers. We will consult with you about this and explore ways for you to continue working, either in your current role or a suitable alternative role that does not require vaccination. However, if we cannot find a way for you to continue your employment your ongoing employment maybe in jeopardy.
People who contract COVID can use any accrued personal/carer’s leave that they have available while they are unfit for work.
As of January 2022, all Workers will be required to be Fully Vaccinated against COVID-19, unless we have granted an exemption in accordance with this policy.
To reflect the various spread and severity of the virus across our country, we are staging the vaccine mandate deadlines. Please refer to the below table:
State | Must be fully vaccinated by: |
NSW | 15 October 2021 |
VIC | 31 October 2021 |
QLD | 17 December 2022 |
WA | 31 January 2022 |
SA | Will monitor state government announcements and regulations |
All permanent employees are able to access accrued personal/carer’s leave and for our casual staff, we will utilise our rosters as best we can to try and accommodate any unavailability due to post vaccine illness.
Similar to any information that is provided by you in relation to your employment, it will be treated confidentially and in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Whilst we understand that some people will have reservations about returning to work, we will be doing everything we can to provide a healthy and safe workplace. Ensuring our staff are vaccinated, working with our Council partners to find a solution to ensuring community members attending our venues are vaccinated, masks, cleaning, following government headcount and square metre guidelines are all steps that we are taking to ensure your safety.
If you choose not to return, we will need to review whether your employment can continue.
As has been the case throughout the previous 18 months, BlueFit will continue to follow all required COVID Safe guidelines as directed by your state.
Our expectation is that staff continue to follow the government health advice. This means that if you present with any symptoms, get tested and isolate until you receive a negative result.
In order to be considered fully vaccinated for the purpose of the Policy, you must have been administered with two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine registered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). This includes the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.
You will be partially vaccinated if you have been administered with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine registered by the TGA.