Smart Business Bulletin September 2021

Welcome to the September 2021 edition of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Smart Business Bulletin, linking Queensland businesses with fair trading information and tips.

Features

• COVID-19 business support and recovery
• What you need to know if your business is exposed to a COVID-19 case
• Have your say on funeral price transparency
• Countdown to quad bike legislation (and the exceptions)
• Single use plastics ban begins
• Health check available to help your business withstand disruption
• Is your business cyber secure?
• Halloween

COVID-19 business support and recovery

What you need to know if your business is exposed to a COVID-19 case

While contact tracing has proven to be one of the most effective ways to control COVID-19 outbreaks and keep Queensland businesses and organisations operating, it can be distressing for organisations, their customers and their clients when they are identified as exposure sites.

It can help to have a general understanding of the process so that you know what to do if it happens to your organisation.

Based on advice from Queensland Health, this is what happens when a location is identified as a COVID-19 exposure site.

An organisation is added to the list of contact tracing locations

An organisation will be added to the list of contact tracing locations as either a close, a casual or a low-risk contact location. The listing will include the date and time the infected person visited the organisation.

What organisations can do:Businesses and other organisations can let their staff and customers know that they have been identified as a close, casual or low-risk contact site, provide the date and time of the contact, and encourage impacted individuals to follow relevant Queensland Health advice.

Any staff that self-identify or are identified by Queensland Health as contacts need to follow relevant testing and quarantine advice.

Queensland Health starts contacting organisations

Queensland Health will then start contacting organisations, prioritising close contact sites as they are higher risk locations. Depending on the situation, some organisations may not be contacted by Queensland Health.

What organisations can do:If a business or other organisation is listed as a casual or low-risk contact venue, it should continue to follow its usual COVID prevention measures as per the COVID Safe Checklist. The organisation may be contacted by a Public Health Unit who will provide further instructions. Casual and low-risk contact venues do not need to close unless they are asked to do so by Queensland Health.

Businesses and other organisations that are listed as close contact sites will be contacted by Queensland Health with advice.

It is a good idea to keep an eye on Queensland Health’s online Contact tracing (exposure sites) information, particularly in peak periods, as your business may be listed before Queensland Health has contacted you.

Queensland Health provides advice to organisations

When Queensland Health contacts organisations they will provide specific information on what they need to do, including:

• cleaning requirements
• whether the organisation needs to close until the cleaning is complete
• testing and quarantining requirements for staff.

What organisations can do:It is critical that all organisations carefully follow Queensland Health’s advice, keeping in mind that the advice may vary between venues depending on the specific situation.

Any small and medium businesses and not-for-profit organisations that are flagged as an exposure site can now access a new COVID-19 cleaning rebate which will help cover expenses by providing up to 80 per cent of cleaning costs, capped at $10,000 per incident.

If a business is required to close for cleaning, they may reopen once the cleaning has been completed. They do not need to wait for confirmation from Queensland Health to do so.

Organisations can reassure their customers that they have followed Queensland Health advice and it is safe to visit their venue.

Check In Qld app key to contact tracing

To assist the contact tracing process, the use of the Check In Qld app is mandatory for some industries and sectors.  If your organisation operates in one of these industries or sectors it’s important that you use the Check In Qld app to collect information about staff, customers and clients who visit your premises. Don’t forget to take a sec to check that everyone has a tick.

Thank you for your ongoing efforts in keeping Queenslanders safe from COVID-19.

Have your say on funeral price transparency

Arranging a funeral can be an emotional process, sometimes with added time pressures if the death of a loved one was unexpected.

Funerals can also involve significant expenditure. They are an infrequent purchase, during what can often be a stressful and emotional time. The decision-making ability of people can be impacted by their vulnerable state, time constraints, family wishes and cultural expectations or pressures.

People are generally unfamiliar with the available options and the prices involved with arranging a funeral. They may be offered a bundle of goods and services but be unaware which of these are required and which are optional.

The Attorney-General has released an options paper on funeral price transparency with three options:

• implementing a regulation under the Fair Trading Act 1989
• amending the current voluntary Queensland Funeral Industry Code of Conduct
• maintaining the status quo.

We are seeking feedback from industry, consumers, and other stakeholders about the options contained in the paper before further considering the next steps.

How to have your say

To have your say, download the funeral price transparency options paper from our website and answer the questions at the end that are relevant to you.

Consultation closes 5pm, Thursday, 7 October 2021.

You can make your submission by email (preferred) or post.

Email
Email your submission to funeralconsultation@justice.qld.gov.au

Post
Office of Regulatory Policy
Department of Justice and Attorney‐General
GPO Box 3111
BRISBANE QLD 4001

Countdown to quad bike legislation (and the exceptions)

The clock is ticking on phase 2 of the Quad Bikes Safety Standard!

From 11 October 2021, all general use quad bikes for sale or hire must:

• have an operator protection device (OPD) attached to help protect riders from being crushed or pinned in the event of a rollover by holding the quad bike off the ground
• meet minimum stability requirements.

Operator protection devices

A general use quad bike must have one of the following devices fitted or integrated into its design:

• an ATV Lifeguard
• a Quadbar
• a device that offers the same or better level of protection from being crushed or pinned in the event of a rollover.

At this stage, youth and sports quad bikes are not required to be fitted with an OPD due to the lack of testing of after-market OPDs designed for these categories.

Minimum stability requirements

The minimum stability requirements you must meet from 11 October are:

• lateral roll stability — a minimum Tilt Table Ratio (TTR) of 0.55 (must not tip on to two wheels on a slope less than 28.81 degrees); and
• front and rear longitudinal pitch stability — a minimum TTR of 0.8 (must not tip on to two wheels on a slope less than 38.65 degrees).

These requirements join those which were introduced in October 2020. For more information, including the TTR test procedures, visit the Product Safety Australia website, and watch the ACCC’s videos for businesses.

Exceptions

To help businesses manage supply-chain issues caused by COVID-19, on 23 June 2021, the safety standard was amended so that quad bikes ordered by dealers before 1 July 2021 are exempt from the stage 2 requirements that commence from 11 October 2021. This exception does not apply if the order is subject to a condition that the quad bike will be supplied to the dealer after 31 December 2021.

The amendment is set out in the Consumer Goods (Quad Bikes) Amendment Safety Standard 2021.

Single use plastics ban begins

On 1 September 2021, a ban on many single use plastic items came into effect in Queensland.

Under the new rules, Queensland businesses cannot supply banned single-use plastic items, including straws, stirrers, plates and bowls, cutlery and expanded polystyrene takeaway food containers and cups.

There are some exceptions though, and you can check if your business or any of your products are exempt from the ban, or for alternatives to banned products at www.qld.gov.au.

Suppliers, distributors and wholesalers of banned items may continue to supply them to a business if they have a reasonable belief the business is an exempt business.

You can find out more about how the ban will apply to your business here.

Health check available to help your business withstand disruption

Do you know about the Queensland Government’s business health check?

It was developed to help businesses identify changes they can make to help deal with disruptions and emergencies. It takes just 15 minutes, and your progress will be saved to the device you are using so you don’t have to complete it in one sitting.

The health check helps identify your strengths and areas for improvement, and provides you with next steps, recommendations, and links to support and resources.

Is your business cyber secure?

Last year saw a huge spike in digital scams as scammers took advantage of the lifestyle and business changes that came with COVID-19, with a reported $128 million lost to payment redirection scams alone.

To help find out how cyber secure your business is and what improvements you can make to your security, check out the Queensland Government’s Cyber Security Assessment Tool.

It only takes 20 minutes to complete and provides you with recommendations to help make your business even more secure and protect it against what are increasingly savvy scams.

Halloween

There’s no denying Halloween is big business in Australia these days, with many ghoulish costumes and novelty items hitting the marketplace each October.

If you are planning to sell Halloween novelties or costume products such as face paint or fake blood, there are some things you must be aware of.

Button battery rules

In Australia, approximately one child a month sustains a serious injury from swallowing or inserting button batteries.

Button batteries can be found in a wide variety of items in our homes, including light up and musical novelties.

If you’re intending to sell light up or musical novelties that are powered by button batteries this Halloween, you should ensure they comply with new mandatory standards, which include rules about how battery compartments must be secured as well as safety labelling.

For information on the standards and what you must do, download a copy of Button/coin battery safety – a guide for business on the application of mandatory standards from www.productsafety.gov.au

Ingredient labelling

If you’re intending to sell costume novelties such as fake tattoos, face paint, makeup, and fake blood, you must ensure they are labelled with their ingredients.

If someone has a reaction to one of your products, having the list of ingredients available can save doctors’ vital time when treating injured consumers.

The Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard sets out the information you must provide and where that information must be placed. For more information, visit www.productsafety.gov.au.

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