Of lifts, legislation and lip-service

"Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself misunderstood."

This famous quote by American author and critic Lionel Trilling could not have been more appropriate than in the current public debate on lifts.

A debate in itself is very healthy and should be encouraged. Constructive criticism is also a factor that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) encourages. It is very unfortunate that the contribution by Saviour Abela, writing on behalf of the Malta Lifts Association (April 13), does not seem to fall within the latter.

In the first instance, Mr Abela has made quite a few erroneous statements regarding both the national legislation and the OHSA.

He states that the OHSA is operating in a safety limbo where lifts inspections are concerned. It is opportune to note that the definition of what constitutes a workplace and the parameters within which the OHSA operates are clearly outlined in Act XXVII of 2000, Chapter 424 of the Laws of Malta, which defines a workplace as "any premises, place, facility, vessel or other thing or location, whether public or private, where work is carried out or to which the worker has access in the course of his employment and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, shall include a vehicle or vessel where such vessel is within a port in Malta or the internal or territorial waters thereof, or at any dockyard, harbour or other similar installation in Malta, other than a warship belonging to a foreign state".

This elicits two fundamental points which Mr Abela seemed to overlook. The first one is that the definition is very clear cut and the operation of the OHSA also has unmistakable parameters. OHSA believes that realistic and objective aims are far more effective than a wide and ambiguous definition which leads to an ambivalent vacuum.

The second issue which comes forth through this definition is that should maintenance personnel be operating on a lift in a residential building, the workers fall within the definition by law and are therefore covered by occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation. Thus, although the inspection of the residential lift itself does not fall within the ambit of OHSA, the employer is bound by OHS law to a carry out a risk assessment of the place where his/her workers will be carrying out their duties.

From his contribution, it also emanates that Mr Abela seems to have a confused view of which legislation applies where. Indeed he states that workers are only protected by the outdated 1964 lifts regulations. In effect, this is totally incorrect. Workers are indeed covered by a wide array of OHS legislation which has either been updated or newly issued since 2000. A copy of these can be obtained either from the Department of Information or downloaded from the OHSA website (www.ohsa.org.mt).

He moreover incorrectly assumes that the 2002 legislation is an OHSA prerogative. Indeed, this is the Product Safety Act, for which the OHSA is not the relevant competent body. Yet again, the OHSA would like to make it clear that it is not responsible for the certification or the inspection of the CE marking on any type of product. This is not in any way some sort of legal pittance or an attempt at shifting obligations - it is a clearly defined fact.

As has been previously stated, the Malta Standards Authority together with the OHSA have been working on a new set of regulations which is currently open for public consultation and regarding which the Malta Lifts Association had also previously been consulted. The official contributions from the association on these draft regulations would be more than welcome. One would have expected Mr Abela to acknowledge the fact that various entities are finally collaborating to bring about a real change in this field.

The OHSA would like once again to solicit the cooperation of the association in informing it and any other competent entity of any illegal or unsafe lifts which it is aware of. This "independently sourced" information is usually of a confidential nature and one might question how this data has become public - and once it has been, why not to the competent bodies.

Accidents naturally grab the media's attention and one is not surprised when people are aware of them. What OHSA has been calling for is a genuine concerted action in the prevention of these accidents. And this is where real collaboration is required.

To conclude on a positive note, OHSA looks forward to moving away from rhetoric to further practical recommendations and collaboration from the Malta Lifts Association and other entities.

Dr Gauci is the chief executive officer of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.