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Malta’s occupational health and safety track record is once again under scrutiny after this week’s fatal accident in Hamrun. By Raphael Vassallo and Karl Stagno Navarra
As Mater Dei gears up for its official opening in July, visitors to the area will be able to appreciate the many landscaping features currently mushrooming around the new hospital’s main entrance, in the vicinity of the San Gwann industrial estate.
Apart from the new roundabout, complete with geraniums and the inevitable carob tree, they will also observe a large sign by the entrance to the new hospital: “No hard hat. No boots. No job.”
The slogan is as familiar a sight on European construction sites as “Baby On Board” stickers are on car rear windows. But in Malta and elsewhere, it is debatable how much of an effect this occupational health and safety campaign has actually had on the standards of safety on high-risk workplaces such as large scale construction projects.
Admittedly, it is also unlikely that either hard hat or boots would have saved the two workers who lost their lives last week in Hamrun, trapped under the weight of several tonnes of cement after the supporting steel structure gave way. But media reports this week suggest that despite a perceived exponential increase in workplace accidents in recent years, the use of safety equipment on building sites remains the prerogative only of the few.
Sandro Chetcuti, construction industry section president of the GRTU and council member on the Building Industry Consultative Council, stressed that he is all in favour of enforcement and tougher penalties for those who do not comply with health and safety regulations, which have been mandatory since the Occupational Health and Safety Act came into force in January 2002.
“I am sick and tired of visiting sites where workmen are without helmets, gloves, eye shields, protective shoes and clothing, still hang like monkeys on ropes, walk on cracked planks, and use no harnesses,” Chetcuti said.
He explained that a series of meetings were held during these last few months with the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment led to a general consensus between all involved in the construction sector for the adoption of a serious regulatory regime on health and safety.
“It is now more than evident that we need tough enforcement, and a no mercy policy for whoever disregards health and safety,” he concluded.
But is Malta becoming a riskier place to work? At a glance, statistics do suggest that our construction industry is considerably more dangerous than its counterparts abroad. In its State of the Construction Industry Report for 2005, BICC observed that in that year alone, there were 12 workplace fatalities, 10 of which took place in the construction industry.
On paper, this translates into a staggering 86 per cent: by far the highest rate in Europe, where construction-related fatalities average at approximately 25 per cent of workplace deaths.
However, statistics can be misleading. For while Malta’s construction fatalities appear excessive, they pale to insignificance when compared to the track record of European workplace fatalities in other industries, which our islands have mercifully been spared.
Last year, 23 Polish coalminers lost their lives in a single accident in the Helemba coal mine in Silesia. It was the worst mining accident in several years, but by no means a unique event. The European coal, oil and gas industries have claimed thousands of lives throughout the continent, and more still are regularly lost in other high-risk occupations such as commercial diving and on chemical reactors, among others.
But it would be unwise to rest on our laurels, especially when one considers how little of the current health and safety regulations are actually observed and enforced.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act came into effect on 29 January 2002. Among other things, it established an Authority to ensure that the “physical, psychological and social well being of all workers in all work places are promoted” and “to ensure that they are safeguarded by whoever is so obliged to do so.”
Four years later, Mark Gauci, chief executive officer of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), admits that these lofty ideals have yet to be matched by concrete action.
One aspect of the Act’s implementation concerns the perceived laxity of the law courts when it comes to imposing penalties on those found guilty of breaking laws related to health and safety, especially in the construction industry.
In 2005, there were 10 cases relating to construction decided by the Magistrates Court. Of these, two were acquitted, and the remaining eight were fined between Lm200 and Lm1,000.
“What deterrent is it when in the majority of cases the courts apply the minimum penalties on those who breaches the health and safety regulations?” asked Gauci, who added that it is almost ridiculous to see contractors who blatantly disregard health and safety on multi-million project sites, and get fined a mere Lm300 by the courts.
According to Gauci, there is also a serious bottle-neck in prosecutions at the law courts. The number of cases is increasing exponentially, but sittings are held just once every six weeks.
Another worrying aspect concerns training. According to the OHS act, employers have the duty to provide “information, instruction, training and supervision”. The OHSA itself organizes a number of courses in this regard, covering such areas as first aid, principles of risk assessment, radiation safety, chemical agents, asbestos, and more.
But while hundreds of workers from all sectors receive training by the OHSA every year, it is to be noted that the least representation comes from the construction industry… although the current indications are that this lack of interest appears to be on the wane.
The biggest problem, however, remains enforcement. Though more than 1,200 on-site inspections were carried out last year, Gauci insists that the OHSA can never adequately cover the near-10,000 sites around the country.
“It is physically and humanly impossible. You’d need an army of inspectors and that is definitely not practical,” he said.
Mark Gauci insists that it is high time all stakeholders involved, particularly the chambers and bodies representing the construction industry, shoulder their responsibility for the long overdue culture change in health and safety.
“The most important thing to avoid any further unwanted fatalities or grievous injuries at work places, is for all to be aware of the immediate need to change culture and work practices.”
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