WORKSAFE Victoria Director Stan Krpan will be talking about safety harmonisation during his 22 April 2010 presentation at the Safety in Action Conference.
According to the organisers of Safety in Action, Krpan is expected to offer some pointed suggestions and report on Victoria’s progress towards the National OHS Strategy’s 2012 targets.
Krpan says it is now time to convert the energy from the controversy of the harmonisation debate into making better safety outcomes. He claims the debate over safety harmonisation has put the focus on workplace safety, and OHS professionals need to use this to their advantage.
WorkSafe says safety professionals should be confident of the support of the community behind the important issue of safety. They should start preparing for the introduction of the new laws.
WorkSafe Victoria claims it is seeing indicators of the recovering economy, and when business begins to invest again, it should be in safety outcomes.
Krpan denied claims made by some employer groups during last year’s harmonisation debate that the threat of prosecution could stifle safety. He says employers should not defer making safety improvements fearing they could jeopardise their legal position, as such improvements are not admissions of guilt.
While Mr Krpan concedes the court system fell outside the scope of OHS harmonisation, the national enforcement and compliance policy based on Victorian Department of Public Prosecution guidelines would bring greater uniformity to the regulators' approach.
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