It has come to our attention that members are being instructed to declare their vaccination status by email or in the e-occurrence book. This instruction is contrary to discussions that have taken place during the COVID IMT/FBEU joint meetings.
Both parties decided upon Recording or collection of vaccination status, by Station Officers, Duty Commanders or Supervisors, along with the recording of vaccination status in the eOB during a meeting on the 7th of September as not being an appropriate method of capturing this private information. An alternative method was presented by the COVID IMT, which involved having the ability to update your vaccination status through ESS. Access to this information through this portal would be limited. An alternate solution was offered by the FBEU to provide a secure fax number to send the information, in the same way we send Medical Certificates.
Health Services have confirmed these options as being secure and with restricted access. They are where Retained Fire-fighters submit their Medical certificates.
The email sent to all staff, and indeed what we are hearing is happening today is in direct contradiction to that agreement.
Therefore, the FBEU instructs its members to not follow the directions from FRNSW regarding recording of vaccination status and instead use the above options.
There should also be no demands of that information being requested in the workplace, save for a reminder to staff to upload the information in the ways outlined above.
The FBEU believes that publishing your vaccination status in the eOB does not comply with privacy act nor FRNSW’s own Privacy and Health Compliance policy, and an alternative method of recording and updating vaccination status needs to be agreed on.
In short, this code red will remain in place until FRNSW adhere to their agreement of either an ESS based upload or similar system, which is agreed to by the FBEU, for members to provide their personal information.
