I refer to the article by Mark Said entitled ‘Construction: the human cost’ (November 14). I would like to point out that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) is not only involved in the construction sector but is involved in all sectors of work activity.
Although construction does receive a lot of attention from the OHSA, it is by no means the only one to be addressed, either through inspections, preparation of guidance documents and organisation of awareness-raising sessions, among others.
Furthermore, Said makes the basic mistake of believing that OHSA is the only authority involved or having a role in ensuring worker safety. It is uncanny that Said, being a lawyer, did not look at the local legislation regarding OHSA, particularly that concerning construction sites, prior to writing his opinion piece. This would have guided the writer about the various roles assigned to different stakeholders involved in a construction project.
He also completely ignores the facts concerning OHSA activities, which are regularly published by OHSA – the number of inspections it carries out, the number of orders to stop work activity, the number of fines issued and the number of judicial cases it has started. This shows accidents are not happening as a result of a lack of enforcement or lack of OHSA presence but for other reasons.
OHSA never ever put forward the point that it is understaffed or under-resourced and has never used its staff complement argument to shy away from its responsibilities. Indeed, various European audits have found OHSA to be staffed by professionals, who were aware of the relevant phenomena of working life in Malta and who knew how to enforce them.
During the evaluation exercises, several work practices were pointed out as good practice examples to be replicated in other EU member states.
Accidents are not happening as a result of a lack of enforcement or lack of OHSA presence- Mark Gauci
What OHSA has been doing is explaining the duties of others who by law are expected to be more active and perform their duties diligently and according to law. This is the real reason why standards of occupational health and safety are not getting better at a faster rate than one would wish for, because the focus remains on OHSA and never shifts on to those of the real duty holders.
It is also very simplistic to consider the numbers of accidents over a short period of time. Although the total number of fatal accidents for all sectors has gone up slightly over the past three years, this has to be seen within the context of the dramatic increase in construction activities and, therefore, in the number of workers involved in the sector.
Furthermore, the increase in the number of fatal accidents during 2022 when compared to 2021 is not attributable to any increase in fatal accidents in construction but because of three motor vehicle fatalities and a series of accidents in several other sectors (waste management, transport and storage and the service industry), the likes of which occur rarely in any given year. Thus, the increase is due to statistical chance and should definitely not be equated to any real increases in rates.
The writer is also completely oblivious to the initiatives taken by OHSA targeting foreign workers.
Whereas the OHSA law makes no distinction between workers on the basis of nationality or type of employment contract but requires the full protection of all workers, it has produced a number of documents in several foreign languages outlining the rights and duties of workers.
It has also started organising a number of awareness-raising sessions targeting a number of ethnic communities.
The OHSA appreciates any form of criticism when it is genuine and is meant to bring about a positive change. Regrettably, this article is a far cry from this.
Mark Gauci is CEO of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.