Melbourne aged care home St Basil’s Victoria admits workplace safety breach after deadly Covid outbreak
The aged care home at the center of the deadly Covid outbreak in July 2020 has admitted it failed to ensure all staff were properly trained.
St Basil’s Homes for the Ages in Victoria was cited by workplace watchdog WorkSafe after 45 residents died from Covid-related complications within a month of the outbreak.
In the State Court of Victoria on Monday, the Melbourne aged care provider pleaded guilty to failing to provide staff with a safe working environment between March 13 and July 12, 2020.
The charge details that St Basil’s failed to provide appropriate training for all staff at the facility on the appropriate use of PPE and mitigation measures following the publication of national guidelines for aged care in facilities on 13 March.
At the start of the outbreak, St Basil’s had 92 residents and 102 staff. The court was told the nonprofit held five training sessions with outside medical providers for some staff at the Fawkner facility between March and June.
But the court was told five staff did not attend any of these sessions and not all staff working at the facility understood the appropriate precautions.
The first confirmed Covid case occurred on July 9, and by July 15, when all staff and residents were tested, dozens of cases had been identified.
St Basil’s lawyer Conor O’Bryan told the court the company had faced significant public backlash since the deaths but was working to digitize records and hired a new education manager.
The capacity of Fawkner homes has since dropped from 150 to 77 residents.
According to the court, the facility was said to have entered into significant financial difficulties after the epidemic, but continued to operate after the Greek Orthodox Church, which owns the land, waived the rent for several years.
St Basil’s posted a profit of more than $1 million for the financial year to July 2024 and a net loss of $847,000 for the financial year to July 2025.
When sentencing St Basil’s on March 11, Judge Trevor Wright indicated he intended to impose a financial penalty for the breach.
The judge said the aged care provider had been in trouble for the past five years but did not claim he could not pay the fine.
The deaths of patients at the facility are the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.
