Western Australia’s position on the national harmonisation process for the adoption of the National Model OSH Act and Regulations was one of the key issues of discussion at the recent Ministerial Advisory Panel (MAP) meeting.

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore attended the meeting on August 13, where panel members raised several matters with him.

“We are not going to agree to anything that in any way disadvantages or affects our capacity to manage our own industries, recognising that a lot of the issues affecting mining in the eastern states are quite different from the mining here,” Mr Moore said

The Minister established the panel to ensure industry and union input into the introduction of a new framework of “best practice, risk management” safety regulation for Western Australia’s resources sector.

Chaired by the Department of Mines and Petroleum Director General Richard Sellers and supported by the RADARS project implementation team, the panel has met five times since its formation in March 2010.

The RADARS project centres on implementing reforms being undertaken by the Resources Safety Division (RSD) to strengthen its capacity as a best practice safety regulator and to enhance the safety performance of industry members.

“The panel is providing important advice on the introduction of a system that focuses on risk based reforms that should result in some genuine change for the industry,” Mr Moore said.

“However, we must not underestimate the task ahead. There are a lot of people in the mining industry who have been there a long time and have some fixed views, so there is a serious cultural change needed,” he added.

The Ministerial Advisory Panel has established working groups to look at best practice safety strategies, financial reporting and transparency, and legislative reform.