CMPA meets with the Victorian WorkCover Authority (Issue 76)
DR ELIZABETH GIBSON, General Manager of CMPA reports on the meetings with the Victorian Workcover Authority.
CMPA had two meetings with Victorian WorkCover Authority (VWA) in July and August, 2014. the first one was held at CMPA in Kilmore with Rob Kelly, Manager, Earth Resources Unit, Workplace Hazards and Hazardous Industries Group, Ron Kerr, Elizabeth Gibson and Gavin Moreira.
Discussions centered on the draft Discussion Paper for Quarries that VWA had compiled. Comments made by CMPA concerned improving the flow and content to enable Members to have a clearer understanding of the document and the messages it is intended to portray. The document will hopefully be released before the end of the year.
One of the areas the draft paper highlighted was the cost to the employer for an employee to return to work before 13 weeks with the average cost of $8K as opposed to after 13 weeks where the average cost is $75K.
CMPA will be meeting with the VWA in October 2014 to discuss this issue and to look at an article for Sand & Stone 77. The Quarry oversight Inspection Checklist was discussed. CMPA believed there would be difficulty in compliance with such a long check list and the industry would collapse because of compliance requirements.
Some members had responded to the email sent out by CMPA concerning the Checklist and these were sent to the VWA. CMPA pointed out progress had been made with the traffic Management Plan Guideline and the Guarding Guidelines and they would like VWA to review.
National Harmonisation of OH&S legislation was mentioned. CMPA does not support National Harmonisation of OH&S legislation due to the expense to the industry where there is no apparent additional improvement in safety. Furthermore, quarries need to be separated from mines due to their lower and different risk profile.
At a subsequent meeting in August with Rob Kelly, Tony Ferrazza (Senior Mining engineer, VWA) and Sean Bryne (Group leader, VWA) held at Northern Quarries, Epping training was raised as an issue by CMPA. there are low levels of certified and non-certified training at both an operator and a manager level.
RTO’s may have difficulty with viability due to the low number of attendees at courses in addition to the reduction in funding from Government.
CMPA stated whilst this may not appear to be an issue of concern to VWA, VWA does have some responsibility in ensuring employees receive adequate training in their roles and should be conveying this message during site visits. CMPA welcomes these face to face meetings with the VWA.
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