The Master Builders Association will on Wednesday reveal its response to the ACT's independent inquiry into unacceptably high construction death and injury rates in the territory, saying it was prepared to accept most - but not all - of the recommendations.
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MBA executive director John Miller said the association would question some aspects of the 28 recommendations by the ''Getting Home Safely'' inquiry, chaired by former Australian Public Service commissioner Lynelle Briggs.
The inquiry's report was handed to the government in November, with eight recommendations accepted immediately and the other 20 recommendations accepted last month.
Mr Miller said the recommendations at issue included the extent to which the MBA could reasonably be expected to make an impact on safety practices of member businesses given it had no regulatory powers.
Mr Miller said there were also issues around the statistical interpretation of the ACT's safety record, which the MBA response would attempt to address.
Mr Miller emphasised the MBA was ''fully engaged in the whole process'' of improving safety in the ACT. It is believed, however, that only the executive summary of the response - prepared for the MBA by former director of the Australian War Memorial Major-General Steve Gower - will be handed down.
Workplace Safety Minister Simon Corbell said on Tuesday: ''I expect the MBA to release their report in full. They must. We need to understand the reasoning and the rationale behind their position in relation to the 'Getting Home Safely' report.
''This is not the time for backsliding, this is the time for dedicated action to make workplaces safer and reduce the rate of death and injury.
''It is absolutely essential there is a concerted effort on the part of all stakeholders, in particular employers, who are in control of workplaces and who have a legal responsibility under the act to provide a safe workplace.''
General Gower, who completed an engineering degree and oversaw major capital works programs at the War Memorial, was commissioned in December by the MBA to respond to the report.
The MBA has been asked to take the lead in changing safety culture on worksites and improve training and induction.
The inquiry found that, on top of losing four construction workers in workplace accidents in less than 12 months last year, the ACT also had the highest rate of injury in the nation with one in every 40 workers expected to sustain a serious injury on the job each year and the territory's rate of serious injury nearly double the national average.
ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said: ''I know that a lot of work has been undertaken by the government to address many of the recommendations since the report was handed down. Rather than denying the data, which indicates there is a problem, I would rather see the local industry indicating what it is going to do to help turn our record around.''
