Employers have warned that changes to the Health and Safety Act may have "limited overall success" in avoiding serious accidents and injuries. 

The Malta Employers Association (MEA) is the latest body to hit out against the changes approved by parliament.

In a statement, it asked for more clairty and further consultaiton before the bill is signed into law.

It said the measures contemplated in the Bill should drive health and safety higher up the agenda of those employers whose business entails high risk to workers and other stakeholders.

For the objectives of the bill to be attained, its clauses needed to be better explained to the business community, particularly around the issue of Health and Safety Responsible Officers (HSRO).

It wanted to know what companies would be required to nominate an HSRO and what criteria would be used.

"Companies need to know at the outset what background, position, academic qualifications and terms of reference such persons need to have before being given such nominations with such onerous responsibilities," the association said. 

"Unless this proposed legislation is implemented properly, consistently and in a targeted manner it would not serve to address risk and the avoidance of occupational hazards. On the contrary, it would merely serve to transfer the administrative burden and financial cost of enforcement to companies by mandating the nomination of Health and Safety Reporting Officers (HSROs) on certain employers."

It said that the HSRO role may be cumbersome to implement and could result "in limited overall success in terms of clamping down on ptoentially critical health and safety shortcomings and the avoidance of serious accidents and injuries". 

The MEA said it backed measures to eradicate abuse but did not expect the law to be used merely to increase burdens indiscriminately on companies which had relatively lower risk, such as office work.

It noted that the role of the HSRO is similar to that of a Compliance Officer, at management level, who, though employed by a commercial undertaking, acts independently of the employer and has direct access to the Health and Safety Authority.

The MEA also called for the CEO of the Authority to operate with full political independence.

Employee disclosure clauses

The MEA said it continued to insist on employee disclosure clauses, which it noted, were absent in the Bill.

"Employers have a right to know of any physical or mental impairment that their employees may have (whether visible or otherwise) which may affect health and safety at work."

Workers injured while under the influence of drugs

It also insisted that workers who get injured at work and are found to be under the influence of any psychoactive substance (whether decriminalized or otherwise) should be deemed to have contributed to their own injury (or that of their co-workers or third-parties) and employers who are fully compliant with health and safety regulations should be exonerated from any liability. 

The association has sent a position paper to the authorities.