Australia is currently in the midst of battling a tragic and unprecedented bushfire season.
At the time of publication, there have been 25 deaths, a number of
people still unaccounted for, over 1600 homes destroyed, and
hundreds of other homes damaged by the fires. A number of major
capital cities have also been blanketed with hazardous smoke for
weeks, with the Federal Government telling a number
of Canberra based employees to stay home on 6 January 2020.
With at least eight weeks of summer left, a number of fires
still burning across the country, people and communities stranded
and/or without homes, infrastructure destroyed and hazardous smoke
still flowing around the country, it is timely to summarise the
obligations of businesses with respect to their employees and
workers during both natural disasters, and other unforeseen
circumstances.
