Health and safety at the workplace - 1

Health and Safety at the workplace is considered to be one of the highest priorities of employees and employers alike. If an employee is sick or injures himself while at work, the employer is one of the first to suffer the consequences.

Many employees view work as a way to preserve and promote the quality of their lives and those of their family members. Workplace injuries and illnesses can have a critical impact on the employee's quality of life. This would affect personal income, mental health, and family well being. Safe workplaces preserve life and promote successful, vibrant lives.

Workplace injuries can have a serious impact on workers' income and create severe financial hardship. It is estimated that those who receive a grant for partial disability due to a workplace injury lose about 40 per cent of their income over five years.

Keeping workers safe and healthy helps preserve the quality of their personal and family lives. These losses often force workers to dip into savings accumulated over the years or borrow money as they struggle to pay their bills. They are also more likely to move, lose their home or car, and lose their health insurance.

Workplace injuries and illnesses typically reduce the overall earnings of households and may force other household members to leave their job to care for a disabled family member, or to work more hours to regain the lost income.

A job you like, together with a safe workplace, can help you lead a healthy and happy life, and the consequences of a workplace accident may be many: if the authorities find that the accident could have been avoided and if the necessary health and safety procedures were not in place, then the employer will have to face the music.

If, on the other hand, the safety equipment and other regulations were in force and the accident still took place, it could be that it was caused through negligence by the employee.

It seems equipment and rules are not everything in Malta. The general mentality is that rules are made to be broken. Simple examples can be drawn from the number of traffic accident happening on Maltese roads.

Sometimes they are mere coincidences or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, in the majority of cases, it is simply because people do not observe the rules.

Shocking statistics

Statistics issued by the National Statistics Office earlier this year are stunning: between October and December 2002, a staggering 1,130 accidents at work were reported to the Department of Social Security. Of those involved, 1,003 were male and 127 were female.

Compared to the same three months the previous year (2001), one can see a slight decrease. In fact, between October and December 2001, 1,054 males and 132 females were involved in some kind of accident in the course of their work.

When analysing the October to December 2002 data, one can immediately note that most of these accidents occurred in businesses involving the manufacturing and construction sectors.

A total of 381 accidents, or 33.7 per cent, were reported to have occurred in factories and in the major state-owned shipyard. Another 106 accidents, or 9.4 per cent, were reported to have taken place in the building and construction sector.

When comparing this to the previous year, one can see that many of the accidents in that year happened in elementary occupations (63 per cent) while nearly 20 per cent of the workers who hurt in the same period worked in craft-related industries.

Also astonishing is the fact that the average age of people involved in workplace accidents in the months under review in 2002 was 36 years.

Many of the injuries affected the hands, fingers, shoulders, back, head and arms. Most of the injured workers lived in the southern harbour district, including Cottonera, Fgura and Zabbar, and the Northern harbour district, including Birkirkara and Qormi.

There were two deaths in the last quarter of 2002, both of whom worked in the construction industry.

Health and safety is in the public interest

The protection of workers from accidents at their workplace is of public interest. The aim is to ensure the physical, psychological and social well being of all employees in all work places.

All governments, over the years, have striven to ensure the highest levels of health and safety at every workplace, in a bid to reduce occupational accidents and improve the well-being of every citizen.

A higher standard of health and safety is a legitimate objective which should be endorsed by everyone, irrespective of social background or political beliefs.

Building on the introduction of the new Employment and Industrial Relations Act earlier this year, the government also drafted and approved another law, which saw the official setting up of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.

The new law, which came into force on January 1 this year, includes a vast number of principles and general duties, which should bring down the number of accidents on the workplace.

The law put the responsibility on the employer to ensure that the health and safety of his workers, or those affected by the work being carried out for him, are protected.

The law states that the measures that need to be taken by an employer to prevent physical and psychological occupational ill health, injury or death, should be taken on the basis of a number of general principles. These include:

¤ The avoidance of risk;

¤ The identification of hazards associated with work;

¤ The evaluation of those risks which cannot be avoided;

¤ The control at source of those risks which cannot be avoided;

¤ The taking of all necessary measures to reduce risks as much as possible - this includes the replacement of hazardous by the non-hazardous or the less hazardous;

¤ Giving collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures;

¤ Adapting the work to the worker, particularly in so far as the design of the work places, the choice of equipment and the choice of production methods are concerned. The employer should alleviate the monotonous work and work at a pre-determined work-rate and reduce their effect on workers' health;

¤ Adapting to technical progress in the best interest of occupational health and safety; and

¤ By the development of a coherent overall prevention policy - which covers technology, the organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors related to the working environment.

The law further states that the employer shall be in dutybound to provide adequate information, instruction, training and supervision as is required to ensure occupational health and safety.

It shall also be a duty for the employer to ensure that a staff member or members, either by election or simply chosen among other workers, will act as the Workers' Health and Safety representative. This person (or persons) should be consulted at all times on matters which may affect occupational health and safety.

Employers' responsibilities

The points mentioned above are the general principles by which the employers are bound. However, the law goes into further detail on the duties of the employers.

The law states that it is the duty of an employer to maintain all equipment, machines, plants, tools or any other device used for work. The employer must keep a good level of hygiene and cleanliness in the workplace and must not allow people to smoke or consume food or drink where harmful agents are stored.

The employer must maintain the structure and solidity of the building and must obtain and observe maximum working safe load for floors, shelves and lofts in which material is placed or stored. An architect should issue this certification.

Employers must provide suitable emergency exits to be used in the event of danger so that workers can evacuate the workplace as quickly and safely as possible. The exits must be kept clear at all times and should lead directly to a safe, open-air area on the ground floor outside the premises.

The exits should be free from any kind of obstruction which might slow down the evacuation process. Moreover, they have to be indicated with luminescent direction signs affixed not more than 3.5 metres and not less than two metres from the floor.

Emergency doors should open outwards, should never be locked or fastened, should be appropriately maintained and made of fire resistant material.

Employers should take the necessary steps of first aid, fire fighting and evacuation of workers in the event of a serious and imminent danger. They should also give instructions which would enable workers to leave the workplace and to proceed to a safe place. Employers must also conduct fire drills with the employees at least once every six months.

The employer may not ask the workers to resume their work unless all the danger has been cleared. And no worker may be dismissed or have action taken against him if he leaves his workstation because of justifiable serious danger.

The employers must ensure that every workplace is properly and sufficiently ventilated with a quantity of fresh or purified air, while maintaining a thermal environment which is practicable and comfortable for workers. This has to be done while taking into consideration the working methods and physical demands placed on the workers.

To be continued - in the meantime, Stay Safe!

CSB Recruitment Agency has been supporting the local business community with its services since 1987. For further information you can write to us at Vincenti Buildings, 14/19 Strait Street, Valletta VLT 08, or call us on 2122-5800 or 2124-6543, fax: 2123-0520, e-mail: jobs@vacancycentre.com, or visit www.VacancyCentre.com.