With Ballarat's first confirmed case of COVID-19 in year coming from a construction worker, the industry is on high alert and being cautious, but does not believe it is any more risky than other sectors.
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The confirmed case was announced on Tuesday morning as a Ballarat resident who works in the construction industry and had been travelling to Melbourne fo permitted work.
The worker tested positive on Monday, leading to two exposure sites and a second case as of Tuesday afternoon.
This comes after the state government announced a four-week compliance blitz on construction sites to ensure they are adhering to the COVID rules.
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Nicholson Construction director Richard Nicholson said while any case was concerning, the construction industry had managed COVID well throughout the pandemic.
"This year, with the Delta strain, it does seem to be somewhat more contagious and the construction industry is copping its share of infections which is not good," he said.
Mr Nicholson said Nicholson Construction had a series of COVID-safe measures in place to ensure the safety of its worksites.
While the business has no sites in Melbourne at the moment, it does occasionally utilise Melbourne contractors and the sites they visited are treated as higher-risk sites. Other COVID management procedures include health declarations, temperature checks, masks and restrictions on carpooling.
Mr Nicholson said the construction industry had just as much COVID risk as any other industry, if not less.
"I'd argue that we're actually safer because we do substantially work outside. Even though we're in teams, the teams aren't close together, they're not sitting opposite each other at desks," he said.
"I think we are considerably lower risk than other industries and that was proven last year throughout the lockdown when the construction industry was able to stay at arguably 100 per cent if not just a little bit less and manage the COVID process very well."
According to Master Builders Victoria, the construction industry accounted for 10 per cent of all active cases in the current outbreak.
Master Builders Victoria CEO Rebecca Casson said given the industry utilised essential workers, it was expected cases would emerge.
"What's vital is how these emerging cases are managed on work sites. It's important to note that our industry has a clearly demonstrated track record of effectively managing positive cases on sites," she said.
"Nevertheless, we recognise that our sector is in a very precarious position, and we are encouraging everyone on building and construction sites to do the right thing."
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