Dear WorkSafe New Zealand,

Questions arising from file 241103

You recieved a request for infomation on 9 December 2024 in regard to the mandating of COVID vaccine at Worksafe and exemptions given to Worksafe employees in that situation. Your reply was that Worksafe employees were not mandated to have the vaccine and so there were no exemptions given.

You also pointed out however, that Worksafe had a COVID-19 vaccination policy from 20 December 2021 designed to mitigate against the risk of spead of COVID-19 in the workplace; this poicy required " that everyone must be vaccinated against COVID-19 if there role required them to attend a Worksafe Office, visit customer premeises or attend events"

You said that the policy had ceased in May of 2022 " as the level of risk of staff exposure to COVID-19 at work was comparable to the risk of tranmission in the community"

There a a number of questions that arise from Worksafe's statement of how the policy worked in places it applied to and how the decision to end it was reached.

a) How did Worksafe measure transmission rates in Worksafe workplaces, customer premises and events ?

b) What studies did Worksafe do, or rely upon to compare the rates of tranmission in its workplaces, customer premises and events with rates of transmission in the community?

c) Which communities did Workplace carry out studies in, given that Worksafe has offices all over New Zealand ?

d) What evidence did Worksafe rely upon to prove the rates of transmission of COVID -19 in its workplace, customer's premises and events as opposed to the disease being contracted in the community and brought into the workplace, customer premise or event ?

e) By what means was the Covid 19 disease -hazard level, detected in Worksafe offices customer premises and events?

Yours faithfully,
Liz Lambert