The Nationalist Party said Monday it will support an upcoming health and safety bill while warning more needs to be done to ensure the law is fit for purpose.
In a statement, the Opposition said the Health and Safety at Work Bill had been delivered “half-baked and in a hurry” a few days before parliament’s summer recess, with shortcomings that do “not address all the challenges in the sector.”
The introduction of regulations for Health and Safety Responsible Officers (HSROs) - a new role to be established by the upcoming bill – and updating of existing rules for the construction sector were still needed, the PN said.
Despite the shortcomings, however, the Opposition said it would vote in favour of the bill but warned it would serve for “nothing if the authority does not have all necessary enforcement resources.”
The new Health and Safety at Work Bill was introduced earlier this month by Prime Minister Robert Abela, who described it as “revolutionary and detailed” legislation to reduce the risk of accidents in the workplace.
But in its statement on Monday, the PN said the bill had been tabled for “partisan motives” and to appease the Jean Paul Sofia inquiry rather than the interests of workers.
“Much more work needs to be done to ensure that this really provides the safeguards needed to reduce injuries and deaths at work,” the Opposition said.
It urged the government to "stop dragging its feet and implement the many regulations that, as the spokesmen of the Nationalist Party have revealed, and as the government has admitted, are still missing”.
While signalling the party’s intention to vote in favour of the bill, the party said it would "persist and ensure that what remains to be done is done”.
The statement was co-signed by PN construction spokesperson Stanley Zammit and social dialogue spokesperson Ivan Castillo.
Proactive enforcement needed
In a separate statement on Monday, the Malta Chamber said "proper proactive enforcement" and the drafting of legal notices should be the next step.
Calling for clarity on the role of the HSROs, the chamber said the role should not be a blanket requirement based on the business' activities or size, but instead on the risks involved.
"The victims of tragic occupational accidents that we have seen in recent years were, in most cases, working with small companies or in high-risk unregulated environments", it said.
The chamber also questioned how HSROs would fit in with companies, especially larger operators, that already have a health and safety officer.
'Populist and contradictory Opposition'
In a statement later on Monday, the Labour Party said the Nationalist Party "did not submit any concrete proposal" when the bill was being drafted.
It said the law was the result of a "long consultation process" that had started in 2023, involving social partners, employers and trade unions.
The PL stressed that the conclusions of the Jean Paul Sofia inquiry had been taken into consideration before the bill was submitted, and said the PN had called the bill rushed despite calling for the government to implement all the findings of the inquiry within six months.
Earlier this month, Abela said parliament would not break for its summer recess until the bill was passed into law, which follows recommendations made by the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry, appointed after the 20-year-old died in a construction site collapse in December 2022.
In its 484-page report, the inquiry concluded that Paul Sofia’s death had occurred in an essentially unregulated sector and that the state must bear responsibility, with the Occupational Health & Safety Authority (OHSA) coming in for fierce criticism. The authority's chairman resigned shortly after.
An inter-ministerial committee made up of various cabinet ministers was appointed in the aftermath of the inquiry, tasked with ensuring its recommendations were introduced into law.