The Business Council of Australia says Western Australia and Victoria’s refusal to join the national occupational health and safety scheme will lead to higher costs.

The Business Council (BCA) is urging a review of OHS laws to find ways to convince those states to join the national scheme.

In its latest submission to the Department of Employment, the BCA says the “full benefits” of harmonised workplace safety rules are yet to be found.

New laws were agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments in 2008, but have not progressed across the entire country just yet.

When Kevin Rudd pitched the streamlined laws as part of his commitment to “ending the blame game” between federal and state OHS authorities, he said a lack of national uniformity would “cause people to pull their hair out and scream blue murder”.

Quite soon after, at Julia Gillard’s first press conference as Prime Minister, she said the proposed workplace safety changes were already one of her biggest achievements.

But Victoria and Western Australia have not adopted the national model for work health and safety laws, and other states are still trying to modify the blueprint.

The BCA says they should sort their squabbles.

“It is highly likely that divergence between jurisdictions will increase if the goal is not to start with anything but full alignment and there is a strong commitment to keep it this way,” the submission says.

“Accordingly a key objective of the review must be to identify a set of reforms that will incentivise Victoria and Western Australia to join, and for all other jurisdictions to achieve full alignment in the scheme’s application.

“As Victoria and Western Australia’s WHS performance is better than many other Australian jurisdictions, one option would be to consider amending the model WHS laws to incorporate differences that demonstrably result in safer workplaces.”

State governments agreed in June this year to enact changes to the model laws that would slash red tape while making it easier to sign up and comply.

The BCA agrees that penalties and sanctions by regulators enforcing the laws should be “a last resort or where health and safety risks are assessed as high”.

Master Builders Australia has changes the chorus calling for changes, saying it wants to see union officials forced to give 24 hours’ notice “in all circumstances” before they can enter a site.

Master Builders’ push reflects moves in Queensland, where the Government has introduced controversial right of entry restrictions this year.