Change to ACC’s vaccine policy – information for visitors

We’re making changes to our COVID vaccination policy, which will allow all ACC employees and visitors to access our offices from 26 April, regardless of their vaccination status.

All sites are currently closed to visitors, but we will be open to the public from 26 April.

Our smaller sites will remain closed beyond this point. These include Hutt Valley, Porirua, Masterton, Greymouth, Alexandra, Whakatane and Whanganui.

Background

Last year we undertook a preliminary risk assessment and introduced a vaccination policy for ACC that required people to show a valid vaccine pass to be at an ACC site or location.

The Government recently made changes to its traffic light settings and removed Vaccine Pass requirements. Te Kawa Mataaho and Worksafe have also released updated guidance.

These changes meant we needed to take another look at our approach and vaccination requirements here at ACC – like many other workplaces across the motu.

Updated risk assessment

We have updated our risk assessment, in consultation with our employees. This assessment tells us that with our current controls, our people are at no greater risk of getting COVID-19 in the workplace than they are going about their everyday lives within the community.

This is due to population vaccination rates and high levels of immunity, with Omicron circulating in the community, alongside changes in the public health response including removing Vaccine Pass requirements which mean unvaccinated and vaccinated people are mingling in the community.

Change to Vaccination Policy

The main change since our last risk assessment is to our Vaccination Policy.

Our Policy has been updated to encourage and expect vaccinations among our employees, but no longer require them in order to access an ACC office or location.

Measures to protect our people and customers

In addition to our updated vaccination approach, we will continue to have in place other public health measures to provide the best possible protection from COVID-19 in our workplaces, such as masks, physical distancing, and good hygiene practices.