Coronavirus: ATO should pay to create safe home work environments, says union

The Australian Services Union has said it will call in the Commonwealth's workplace regulator if the Australian Taxation Office doesn't address the problems it has raised about work health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However the ATO has said it is following the advice and guidance from the federal Department of Health and the public service commission in its response to COVID-19.

ASU official Jeff Lapidos has written to the Tax Office saying the agency should fund the computer monitors and the transport of work chairs to home offices with money saved through the government's freeze on public service pay rises.

"The ATO should also regard the cost of chairs and monitors as an investment in a safe working environment for its employees who are working from home because it will save the cost of workers compensation claims, which will otherwise inevitably be made," Mr Lapidos wrote.

The union has reported that some tax officials are working from kitchen benches, dining room tables, and couches, and working on laptops for long periods of time.

"The ASU accepts that for most employees, using a laptop computer from a table and chair may not be a threat to an employee's health and safety if the period is restricted to several days, provided appropriate breaks are taken," Mr Lapidos wrote.

"However that period of time is passing. The ATO now needs to work with its employees to improve their home based work set ups.

"The ATO must make each person's work chair available to them and arrange for it to be transported to their home if they need it to contribute to a safe working environment.

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"The ATO also needs to ensure that everyone who is working from home has an appropriately sized monitor, single or dual, depending on the nature of the work. This must be in addition to the laptop computer being used."

Mr Lapidos has also urged the Tax Office to better prepare first aid officers to address any suspected cases of COVID-19 at an ATO site, and called for it to provide more hand sanitiser and bins for used tissues and cleaning materials at its buildings.

He wrote to the federal workplace regulator Comcare earlier this month asking it to appoint an inspector to attend the Tax Office and help resolve the union's workplace safety concerns.

Comcare confirmed it was helping the ASU and ATO to resolve the concerns raised by the union.

The next steps would be determined after further discussions between the ASU and ATO, a Comcare spokesman said.

More than 11,000 tax officials are working from home, more than half of the agency's workforce, as the public service shifts staff from its buildings as a safety precaution amid the coronavirus pandemic.

An ATO spokesperson said it took the health and safety of employees "very seriously".

The agency was inviting the ASU and the Community and Public Sector Union to regular meetings with senior executives overseeing the ATO's response to COVID-19, the spokesperson said.

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