The Maritime Union has welcomed an announcement by the Australian Safety & Compensation Council (ASCC) that it will develop a nationally consistent approach for OH&S at Australian stevedoring ports.

The decision follows the deaths of four stevedoring workers in four years and a national and international union campaign to tighten safety on the job.

"We lost four waterside workers, two last year in Victoria," says MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin.

He says it is important the ASCC achieves a nationally consistent, enforceable standard for stevedoring OH&S that is monitored by a national OH&S regulatory agency.

"A comprehensive overhaul of OH&S standards in stevedoring and an enforceable code of practice are long overdue, given the unique nature and critical economic and industrial importance of the industry," Crumlin says.