Leading from the Front:
An Open Letter to our Team
Know the way. Go the way. Show the way
“I want to personally thank you for leading our people on the frontline with strength, resilience and passion through this challenging time. When times are tough, your leadership of the Assetlink Way has always seen us rise to the occasion. I truly believe there is no adversity we have previously faced that we haven’t overcome together.”
Aurora Fonte, Managing Director
09 April 2020
Tough situations don’t last, tough people do. We are an incredible army of strong-willed, compassionate and resilient people. As with all challenges, and with your continued support and leadership, this too shall pass.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Communication is key, it is important to do so with clarity and purpose. With new updates being released daily, it’s important to be there for your team, communicate regularly, clarify and verify all their concerns.
Humility and Purpose
With your strong leadership and our people’s unwavering passion for service excellence, the Assetlink team remains as strong and focussed as ever. Safety is always at the heart of everything we do, including our people’s physical and mental well-being. It's important to remember each of our team members is different, human, and is affected by the ongoing crisis on some level.
Service with Heart
At Assetlink, we are a family. We will endeavour to lead by example and uphold the Assetlink Way by ensuring that safety is always put first. Now is the time we need to come together the most, work together, lean on each other, be kind to each other and understand we are all different and doing our best.
No doubt we will look back on this tumultuous with pride and respect; not only towards the actions of others, but also those of our own.
Together, we are stronger.
Reasonable excuses to be outside
08.04.2020
The resilience of our frontline team members empowers us as we continue to navigate the challenges of this pandemic. On a national level, both in Australia and New Zealand, new COVID-19 cases continue to decline.
This is certainly a positive sign, but it’s important to continue to keep our guards up. We need to combine all our efforts with our respective governments and stay home as much as possible.
As essential workers, Assetlink’s frontline heroes must leave their households to contribute towards national safety. When not work, the government has provided a list of essential activities – acceptable reasons for going outside.
As new information on COVID-19 is released frequently and these rules may be different in every state, it is strongly advised to check regular updates from the government for the latest updates.
These ‘essential activities’ and COVID-19 rules are enforced by fines, so please be mindful of these reasons for your safety and that of others.
Together we can not only slow the spread, but hopefully stop it too. Together we are stronger!
Staying Informed and Connected
25.03.2020
As of Wednesday, 25 March 2020 the number of confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses in Australia is 2,252, with approximately two thirds of the confirmed cases being in New South Wales and Victoria.
In response, the New South Wales and Victorian governments have moved to shut down all non-essential services by Tuesday 24 March 2020. Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia have each also implemented similar lockdown measures.
The Prime Minister last night addressed the nation, advising further stringent measures for all Australians to ensure paramount safety.
How does this impact me?
- Essential services will remain open. This includes petrol stations, supermarkets, banks, pharmacies, freight and logistics, and home delivery services.
- All Victorian schools will close from Tuesday, 24 March.
- Although parents are supported in keeping their children at home, New South Wales Schools are to remain open.
- Public transport may be impacted, so please keep speaking with your line manager if you are affected.
- Travelling interstate to certain Australian states may result in mandatory 14-day self-isolation. This varies with each state and is changing daily. At the time of writing, this applies for Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland. Please speak with your manager for further details.
As the situation is changing daily, we advise you to refer to your state’s government website for the most up to date information.
There will no doubt be disruption to your personal lives.
To our people with young children and those caring for elderly parents, we urge you to speak to your immediate manager in determining how to navigate the coming weeks.
Personal Protective Equipment requirements are in place for all frontline team members (all must wear gloves – additional PPE is available as required including masks, safety glasses, and more).
Additional safety protocols are in place, including:
- Requirement for social distancing for all Assetlink team members
- Clear protocols for monitoring health of our team members
- Clear protocols for responding to various scenarios (e.g. a suspected case or confirmed case on site).
- Daily communications to all team members including team meetings, text messages, and website updates
- Ongoing engagement with our clients – Assetlink provides a critical service to our communities and we are working with our clients to ensure our sites remain operational where possible.
Please stay informed of all ways to minimise transmission:
- Practice social distancing (maintain two metres between people)
- Frequently wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds
- Monitor your health
- Cough and sneeze into your elbow or into a tissue and properly dispose of it
- If you are sick, please stay home
- If you have come into contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, self-isolate and contact your supervisor
- If you are showing symptoms of COVID-19, self-isolate, contact your doctor and advise your supervisor
Thank you for all you are doing for us and our communities. There is a lot of uncertainty around us, but please remember: We Are Stronger Together, and we will get through this as a team.
Social Distancing
Social distancing guidance
This information sheet should be read in conjunction with the ‘What you need to know’, ‘Isolation guidance’ and ‘Advice for public gatherings’ information sheets can be found at www.health.gov.au/covid19-resources.
What is social distancing and why is it important?
Social distancing includes ways to stop or slow the spread of infectious diseases. It means less contact between you and other people. Social distancing is important because COVID-19 is most likely to spread from person-to-person through:
- direct close contact with a person while they are infectious or in the 24 hours before their symptoms appeared
- close contact with a person with a confirmed infection who coughs or sneezes, or
- touching objects or surfaces (such as door handles or tables) contaminated from a cough or sneeze from a person with a confirmed infection, and then touching your mouth or face. So, the more space between you and others, the harder it is for the virus to spread.
What can I do?
If you are sick, stay away from others – that is the most important thing you can do. You should also practise good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene:
- wash your hands frequently with soap and water, before and after eating, and after going to the toilet
- cover your cough and sneeze, dispose of tissues, and use alcohol-based hand sanitiser, and
- if unwell, avoid contact with others (stay more than 1.5 metres from people).
As well as these, you can start a range of social distancing and low cost hygiene actions now. These simple, common sense actions help reduce risk to you and to others. They will help to slow the spread of disease in the community – and you can use them every day – in your home, workplace, school and while out in public.
Social distancing at home
Households
To reduce the spread of germs:
- As mentioned, practise good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene
- Avoid handshaking and kissing
- Regularly disinfect high touch surfaces, such as tables, kitchen benches and doorknobs
- Increase ventilation in the home by opening windows or adjusting air conditioning
- Visit shops sparingly and buy more goods and services online
- Consider whether outings and travel, both individual and family, are sensible and necessary
Households where people are ill (in addition to the measures above)
- Care for the sick person in a single room if possible
- Keep the number of carers to a minimum
- Keep the door to the sick person’s room closed and, if possible, a window open
- Both the sick person and the people caring for them should wear a surgical mask when they are in the same room
- Protect other vulnerable family members, such as people over 65 years or people with a chronic illness, including, if practicable, finding alternative accommodation
Social distancing in the workplace
To reduce the spread of germs in the workplace:
- Stay at home if you are sick
- Stop handshaking as a greeting
- Hold meetings via video conferencing or phone call
- Defer large meetings
- Hold essential meetings outside in the open air if possible
- Promote good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene and provide hand sanitisers for all staff and workers
- Take lunch at your desk or outside rather than in the lunch room
- Clean and disinfect high touch surfaces regularly
- Consider opening windows and adjusting air conditioning for more ventilation
- Limit food handling and sharing of food in the workplace
- Reconsider non-essential business travel
- Promote strictest hygiene among food preparation (canteen) staff and their close contacts Consider if large gatherings can be rescheduled, staggered or cancelled
Social distancing in schools
To reduce the spread of germs in schools:
- If your child is sick, do not send them to school (or childcare)
- Sanitise hands when entering school and at regular intervals
- Defer activities that lead to mixing between classes and years
- Avoid queuing and consider cancelling school assemblies
- Promote a regular handwashing schedule
- Clean and disinfect high touch surfaces regularly
- Conduct lessons outdoors where possible
- Consider opening windows and adjusting conditioning for more ventilation
- Promote strictest hygiene among food preparation (canteen) staff and their close contacts
Social distancing in public
To reduce the spread of germs:
- Sanitise your hands wherever possible, including entering and leaving buildings
- Use tap and pay rather than handling money
- Try to travel at quiet times and try to avoid crowds
- Public transport workers and taxi drivers should open vehicle windows where possible, and regularly clean and disinfect high touch surfaces
Places of social gathering
Venues where a large number of people are in one place can increase the risk of transmission of viruses.
Non-essential gatherings are suspended for an initial four weeks to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus (COVID-19) and to give both businesses and people time to fully understand social distancing requirements.
Restrictions on facilities
The following facilities are restricted from opening from midday local time 23 March 2020:
- Pubs, registered and licensed clubs (excluding bottle shops attached to these venues), hotels (excluding accommodation).
- Gyms and indoor sporting venues.
- Cinemas, entertainment venues, casinos and night clubs.
- Restaurants and cafes will be restricted to takeaway and/or home delivery.
- Religious gatherings, places of worship or funerals (in enclosed spaces and other than very small groups and where the 1 person per 4 square metre rule applies).
Isolated remote community hubs are not included in these restrictions.
Other facilities are not impacted, but could be considered under a later stage of restrictions, if necessary.
These measures also apply to outdoor spaces associated with the above venues.
More information
Please click here for more information about reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.
For the latest advice please visit Department of Health
Call the National Coronavirus Help Line on 1800 020 080. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you require translating or interpreting services, call 131 450.
The phone number of your state or territory public health agency is available at www.health.gov.au/state-territory-contacts
If you have concerns about your health, speak to your doctor.