Victorian Safety Symposium 2021

The Victorian Branch Committee of the Safety Institute of Australia is pleased to announce that the 2020 Victoria Safety Symposium will be held on from 12-13 August at the Mercure Hotel & Conference Centre in Ballarat.

The 2021 conference theme will be "Connecting Safety". The two day conference will showcase a diverse range of local and international thought leaders and will bring together professionals and practitioners with interests in health, safety and business excellence.
 

EVENT DETAILS

Date: 12-13 August 2021
Time: 9.00 am - 5:00pm
Venue: Mercure Hotel & Convention Centre, 613 Main Road, Ballarat, 3350

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Victorian Branch Committee of the Australian Institute of Health and Safety is pleased to announce this call for speakers and contributors for the AIHS Victorian Symposium. 

Held in Ballarat in Rail Safety Week (Thu-Fri 12-13 August), this year’s event will explore the theme of “Connecting Safety: Closing the Gaps Across Victoria’s Safety”. 

Sub-themes include:

• connecting safety – connecting Victoria’s cities and regions, and connecting industries
• managing the disruption and complexities of today’s infrastructure, and
• managing public interface risks – keeping communities safe. 

The AIHS Victorian Symposium provides an important time to reflect, come together and learn. With six workplace fatalities in the past two years in Ballarat alone, and regional Victoria over-represented in OHS incidents, we think it is timely that the Victorian Symposium is held outside of Melbourne for the first time. Whilst this event will have a 'rail flavour', all industries are strongly encouraged to attend and contribute. As Victoria continues to grow through various infrastructure and other projects, industries must continue to learn from each other and collaborate to manage health and safety challenges. We want to hear from presenters who have seen or implemented successful evidence-based practices in one domain, and want to share it with others? What works well, and can be shared as well? 

Would you like to be involved?

Across the two days there are multiple opportunities to be involved. We are pleased to invite ‘expressions of interest’ in giving engaging, evidence-based presentations of approximately 20 minute (+- time for questions) from:

• OHS practitioners and professionals
• academics and researchers
• representatives from local, state or federal governments
• industry representatives across related disciplines such as community engagement, planning, operations etc. 

Given the broader themes above, presenters are encouraged includes in areas such as:

• contractor management
• public safety
• construction safety
• transport and logistics
• training and workforce development
• organisational leadership
• health and safety regulation 

Presenters will need to combine their technical knowledge with industry experience to effectively engage their audience. Whilst strong technical OHS knowledge or experience is not essential, presenters must consider how Victoria's development is having OHS impacts on workforces and the public, and how OHS practitioners/professionals can learn from others to improve their areas of practice. 

Presentation Expressions of Interest Guidelines
All presentations submitted for consideration should provide effective health and safety knowledge and practical advice for health and safety professionals and practitioners. Acceptance of proposed presentations will be based on the content of the online submission, which will be reviewed by the Victorian Branch Committee. Furthermore:

• The author of the presentation must be present in person to deliver the presentation.
  Please note: Accommodation to present will not be covered. Travel may be subsidised depending on point of origin. 
• Presentations are limited to 20-25 minutes, plus of 5-10 minutes of question time.

CALL FOR PAPERS - COMING SOON

The shorter than traditional timeframe is designed to encourage presenters to be succinct and engaging. Strong preparation is essential, and visual (rather than text) cues are strongly encouraged. Speakers will be expected to be available for mini-panel discussions after their presentations.

Note that presentations considered to be of a marketing nature or promoting/advertising specific products or services will not be accepted. Those speakers wishing to explicitly promote/advertise their products or services are encouraged to submit an expression of interest for the accompanying Exhibition.

EXHIBITORS

We invie health and safety solution or service providers to submit expressions of interest to demonstrate their products/services at an accompanying 'mini-exhibition' to events@aihs.org.au  Places for this mini-exhibition are extremely limited.

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the 2021 Victorian Safety Symposium. Please contact the events@aihs.org.au for more information