The OHSA has defended its work in relation to a construction site in Sliema which was the site of a serious workplace injury on Tuesday.

Residents of a property on Creche Road, Sliema contacted Times of Malta after a worker fell three storeys into their backyard, smashing through a pane of glass and suffering grievous injuries in the process.

The worker was part of a construction project adding new apartments to the top floor of the four-floor property. 

"We don't know how he survived the fall," Hayley Smith and her partner Joe said.

The couple added it had noticed several shortcomings at the construction site and filed a report with the Occupational Health and Safety Authority in September after noticing dangerous scaffolding.

The OHSA acknowledged that it had received a report concerning an unsafe scaffolding system at the site on September 13.

“OHSA investigated the complaint on the same day and orders were issued in terms of the law to either effect urgent remedial works to the scaffolding system and to have it recertified by a competent person, or to dismantle it. A follow-up inspection carried out five days later showed that the scaffolding had been dismantled,” the authority told Times of Malta.

A photo of the unsafe scaffolding provided by the Smiths showed the structure before the OHSA intervened, the authority’s spokesperson said.

They noted that the Building and Construction Authority – the regulator responsible for overseeing building standards – had also inspected the site in February.

“Yesterday’s accident was totally unrelated to the original complaint and is being investigated by OHSA,” the authority said.