Parliament will not break up for its summer recess until a bill proposing new, tougher workplace health and safety measures is passed into law, Robert Abela said on Saturday.
MPs are due to debate the bill on Monday and "we will not adjourn for recess until this bill is approved by the house and becomes law," Abela said.
Speaking on the Labour Party's radio station, the Prime Minister said penalties for those who do not comply with OHSA regulations are currently too low.
"Unfortunately, the reality is that people are willing to risk getting caught because the consequence is a penalty of a few hundred euros," Abela said.
“Sometimes, people don't even realize they are taking great risks and endangering workers' lives,” he said, adding, "We cannot continue accepting this sort of attitude."
The Health and Safety at Work Bill was tabled in parliament last May by Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, whose ministerial portfolio also includes Construction Sector Reform. It will undergo a second reading on Monday.
The bill seeks to comprehensively reform the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), which underwent little change since being established in the 1990s.
Among other things, it proposes fines of up to €20,000 for offences that do not meet the bar of criminal offences. The current law in place, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority Act, caps fines at €11,647 per offence.
Abela said he hoped there would be no need to impose the “harsh” new penalties but acknowledged “we will probably need to use the stick."
The new law will also require companies to have a "Health and Safety Regulations Officer (HSRO)," Abela said.
This obligation applies to large and high-risk industries.
Such officers will be responsible for receiving reports from anyone with information or concerns about a potential breach of health and safety rules.
If a breach is identified, their job is to submit a written report to the employers. If an employer fails to implement the recommendations, the matter will be reported to the OHSA.
However, the obligation to have an HSRO will not come into effect immediately but at a future date established by the minister via a notice in the Government Gazette.
The notice will also specify which industries must have the specially dedicated officer.
Abela said the new law will also improve governance and introduce a new tribunal to decide on appeals over the OHSA's decisions.
Abela said the OHSA has increased its workforce and will continue to do so.
The new law follows recommendations made by the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry, appointed after 20-year-old Sofia died in a construction site collapse in December 2022.
That inquiry concluded that construction safety legislation was disjointed and lacked coordination and was damning in its criticism of the OHSA and its current setup. The authority's chairman resigned in the wake of that report.
Abela responded to the inquiry findings by appointing an inter-ministerial committee made up of various cabinet ministers, tasked with ensuring inquiry recommendations were introduced into law.