New construction regulations are pointless unless authorities effectively implement and enforce them, the Green Party has argued.

ADPD leader Sandra Gauci said authorities needed to be proactive if further construction site tragedies are to be avoided.

"No permit for construction work should be issued before it is ascertained that the safety regulations are complied with. Site managers must receive adequate training and unannounced inspections must be carried out and on which action is taken promptly. Fines must be made tougher for contractors who carelessly do not protect the safety of their workers,” Gauci proposed.

We can no longer shed crocodile tears after a tragedy occurs that is soon forgotten, as if nothing had happened!" she added.

Gauci was speaking on Saturday morning during a news conference held outside the Office of the Prime Minister in Valletta.

She noted that Prime Minister Robert Abela is resisting calls to launch a public inquiry into the construction site death of Jean Paul Sofia, a 20-year-old who was buried alive when a partially constructed building at Corradino collapsed last December.

His mother told Times of Malta last week that she would continue to battle for the truth about her son’s death to be discovered and made public until her dying breath.

Sandra Gauci and ADPD members at a press conference on Saturday morning. Photo: ADPD

ADPD leader Gauci said she hoped Sofia’s family would get the peace of mind they deserve.

The ADPD leader’s calls for construction site enforcement come one week after a report shed light on the way in which Malta handles injuries and deaths at construction sites.

While 49 construction workers died on-site between 2010 and 2022, just five of those cases resulted in court decisions, with the vast majority of cases still pending.

The average fine dished out by the courts in those five cases was of €7,300.

Not a single architect has had their warrant suspended or revoked in connection with a construction site death during that period, the Public Interest Litigation Network report found.

The report also flagged significant shortcomings in the way public authorities collect and collate data about construction site injuries and deaths, with entities like the police or Occupational Health and Safety Authority unable to provide report writers with basic statistics about construction site incidents.

ADPD spokesperson Mark Zerafa argued that without proper enforcement, new construction regulations “are not worth the paper they are printed on.”

He also insisted that the construction industry must stop exploiting the vulnerable, noting that of the eight construction site fatalities registered in 2022, four were third-country nationals.