When the contracts were awarded I wonder how the detailed the scope or mandate was? Surely there was something along the lines of "all personnel must wear PPE while on duty etc". If so, contractor could be liable to govt, and also to workers due to negligence (hello Workcover).
More red flags re. 'security' at hotels:
Concerns raised over a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, with claims that some guards and staff continue to flout hygiene rules.
www.theage.com.au
Ok. Pure speculation on my part and purely a hypothetical.....
Crisis's bring out the best and worst in people. Mainly the best. But just as we see in the bushfires there are also those that exhibit the worst.
Problem Number One My speculation is that the Vic Gov wanted to do the right thing and to get things up and running quickly, and in doing so many normal contracting protocols will not have been followed due to this. All well and good as speed to act is important with the virus, but these should have been improved upon once time allowed. I suspect this was not done.
Problem Number Two, and the likely bigger problem is that greed kicked in and despite the obvious clear and obvious danger that some put the opportunity to make a quick and easy buck before community need and ethical business practices including the need to ensure a safe workplace. So they exploited what were probably easy contracts, subcontracted out to other firms that were not capable but would do the work on the cheap.
Those subcontractors also wanted a quick buck and so hired people who they new would be prepared to work for a low rate and in substandard conditions and to turn a blind eye to things.
Problem Number Three was that at least some of these workers then compounded things by not just putting up with poor conditions, but by not maintaining physical distancing with each other as well as people quarantine.
Now yes these workers were exploited no doubt, but equally they were of an age where they should have had a pretty good idea of what was ok, or not, with Covid19 even if yes they were not adequately trained in the use of PPE which even health professional can struggle with.
Problem Number Four was seemingly the Vic Government not having either staff, or an independent contractor, monitory such a critical. So it was not until the proverbial cough hit the fan in positive test results starting to show up that it was realised that a monumental stuff up had occurred. Genomic sequencing which lags test results now evidently showing that the stuff up is even bigger than first thought. Quite probably given the spread a number of the guards with symptoms were not presenting for testing, and indeed one interview of a guard indicated that he was instructed to not get tested.
Now all the above is just myself joining the dots and is pure speculation on my part.
www.tmc.edu
