Architects take offence to safety watchdog's statement

The Chamber of Architects has accused the Occupational Health and Safety Authority of failing to verify the claims of an anonymous phone caller who said an architect had raised the alarm about the state of a building in St Paul's Bay which collapsed, killing two women.

The OHSA said it had been anonymously informed that an architect who happened to be in the vicinity of the building had warned the people accompanying him that the building looked very dangerous and in imminent danger of collapse.

The police have requested the cooperation of the public to help them identify the architect in question.

OHSA chief executive Mark Gauci said that had this architect informed the responsible authorities perhaps the tragedy would have been avoided.

The incident, he said, highlighted the "general feeling of apathy and lack of responsibility for others".

In a statement over the signature of president Lawrence Mintoff, the Chamber of Architects said comments made by the OHSA cast the architects' profession in a bad light at such a delicate moment.

The chamber said the OHSA was undoubtedly aware that it was actively involved within the Building Industry Consultative Council in promoting safety and good building practice on construction sites.

When contacted, Dr Gauci said the authority was not trying to put anybody in a bad light. He highlighted the importance for all players in the field, including the authorities, the constituted bodies and the media, to pull the same rope if there were to be a reduction in such accidents.

He explained that one of the problems his authority faced was that most callers insisted on remaining anonymous, irrespective of guaranteed confidentiality. "For whatever reason, most people fear repercussions," Dr Gauci said.

He insisted that the authority was duty-bound to make such a statement as that it issued about the information in connection with the unknown architect even if the caller wanted to remain anonymous.

The remainder of the building rubble is expected to be cleared this week and tests will be carried out on the building's foundations.

More rubble and debris has to be removed in order to investigate to what extent a concrete "belt", which served as the base for the collapsed building, had been damaged during trenching works on a neighbouring site.