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Vic government charged over troubled hotel quarantine program
Victoria’s Department of Health has been charged with 58 workplace health and safety breaches over the state’s first hotel quarantine program
Melbourne is currently suffering through the longest lockdown in the world and officials have been heavily scrutinised for its hotel quarantine program.
Covid infections among security guards in two Victorian quarantine hotels in May and June last year led to Melbourne’s second wave of coronavirus, responsible for the deaths of 801 people including 642 in aged care facilities.
The Department of Health was responsible for the oversight and coordination of the quarantine program, Operation Soteria.
WorkSafe has alleged the Department of Health breached laws by failing to appoint people with infection prevention and control
They also found security guards were not given face-to-face infection control training
WorkSafe said the “complex investigation” took 15 months to complete…
Material from last year’s COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry provided information that informed parts of this investigation.