A Melbourne aged care home where 45 people died from COVID-19 has been charged by the workplace safety watchdog.
WorkSafe Victoria on Monday announced it charged St Basil's Homes for the Aged In Victoria with nine breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act
It alleges that in July 2020, after the home was notified a worker tested positive to COVID-19, St Basil's failed to require workers to wear personal protective equipment.
It also allegedly failed to train workers how to safely don and remove protective equipment, verify that staff were competent using it, tell staff when it should be used and supervise its use.
Ninety-four residents and the same number of staff tested positive for COVID-19, with 45 people subsequently dying from complications from the virus.
The maximum penalty for each of St Basil's alleged offences is a fine of $1.49 million.
The safety watchdog's investigation into the aged care home took 23 months, and involved reviewing thousands of pages of documents and multiple witness interviews, WorkSafe said.
The St Basil's matter is listed for a filing hearing at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on August 1.
