Malta’s official standards body is “still checking” whether concrete bricks used at a Corradino site that collapsed like a deck of cards last December were certified as safe.
Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority chairperson, engineer Helga Pizzuto, told a public inquiry looking into the collapse that the regulator was waiting for information about c-markings for bricks used at the site.
“We’re still checking. We’re getting information from the manufacturer,” Pizzuto told the inquiry when asked whether the MCCAA had looked into the matter.
The MCCAA is the country's official standards body.
Pizzuto's statement drew an incredulous reply from board member Mario Cassar, who said the authority should have taken “four bricks” from the Corradino site and effected technical tests on them to determine their load-bearing capacity.
“So that exercise was not carried out?” inquiry chairperson Joseph Zammit McKeon asked the witness.
“No,” Pizzuto replied.
The MCCAA boss also told the inquiry that the law did not require the authority to request proof of C-Marked certificates from manufacturers – and there are no plans to change the law to require it to do so.
Pizzuto was one of a number of witnesses to testify during Monday’s session of the Sofia public inquiry, which is digging into a December 2022 collapse that killed Jean Paul Sofia and injured four others.
The project's two developers, two contractors and its architect have been criminally charged in connection with the collapse, in separate proceedings.
Jobsplus has just 12 inspectors
Testifying to the public inquiry on Monday, Jobsplus CEO Alexia Vella revealed that the state-run entity has just 12 inspectors within its compliance unit, responsible for inspecting all workplaces across the country.
Vella acknowledged that the number is low but added that it is a marked improvement over the recent past, when the state-run entity had just six inspectors.
“I understand the problem, but those are what we have,” Vella told a public inquiry.
According to the National Statistics Office, there are just over 58,000 active business units in Malta and around 20,000 employers.
Vella, who testified before the Sofia inquiry on Monday, explained that Jobsplus is responsible for keeping a register of all employers and their employees, but lacks the competence to act as a regulator.
Jobsplus inspectors did not visit the Corradino site where Sofia was killed, Vella said, explaining that inspections take place at random.
“I’m trying to understand why in this case, out of five entities, not one carried out an inspection,” inquiry member and auditor general Charles Deguara said, evidently perplexed.
Vella explained that Jobsplus inspectors check that onsite conditions reflect engagement forms supplied by employers in case of Maltese and EU nationals, and work permits in case of Third Country Nationals (TCNs).
EU nationals enjoy free movement and equal access to the Maltese labour market but TCNs need a work and residence permit - now incorporated in a ‘single permit’- to work.
In case of defaulting non-EU workers, immigration authorities step in and the subject faces deportation.
“But the problem is whether they [workers] are competent,” interrupted inquiry chairperson Joseph Zammit McKeon, questioning what Jobsplus could do if a person registered as a cleaner, “suddenly became a master mason or labourer.”
Jobsplus was not competent to act as regulator, Vella told the chair.
Growing construction sector
Data produced by Vella gave an insight into Jobsplus’s books over the past five years.
The number of people registered in construction rose from 16,099 in 2019 to 19,692 in 2023.
“In crescendo,” Zammit McKeon said. Out of those, TCNs numbered 4120, 5073, 5988, 8065 and 8457 respectively.
More data was produced in evidence by the Permanent Secretary at OPM’s People and Standards Division, Joyce Cassar, who said that requests for human resources were generally approved, subject to the direction given by the Finance Ministry.
With respect to both the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and the Building and Construction Authority, requests had been practically met.
Sometimes recruitment was approved on condition that it would be staggered and within the parameters of finance vote.
There was an evident spike in the number requested by BCA in 2021, Cassar said.
That year, the BCA requested 65 hires, compared to the 10 and eight employees requested in the two previous years.
Deguara asked Cassar to check how many of those 65 had actually been engaged.
Lands Authority CEO says it knew nothing of land
Lands Authority chief executive Robert Vella also testified on Monday, and said it was a “misconception” that the authority administered all government lands.
Asked specifically about the land transferred to the developers involved in the Sofia incident, Vella confirmed what authority chairman John Vassallo had told the board, namely that all of the Corradino Industrial Estate had been transferred to then-Malta Development Corporation in 1993.
Lands Authority held no residual responsibility over the land and was not even informed of any subsequent allocation.
“I cannot understand how there’s no single entity in this country knowing who holds government property, having one complete and exhaustive database,” remarked Deguara.
Minister told to look into GO Exchange works
Minister Stafan Zrinzo Azzopardi made a very brief appearance on Monday, representing the Prime Minister who was summoned to produce a copy of the report drawn up by the Quintano Commission in April 2020.
But before stepping off the witness stand, he was faced with an unexpected request.
Zammit McKeon pointed out that he had personally attested massive dust clouds rising up from ongoing construction works at the former GO exchange at Birkirkara, enveloping the area while parents dropped off their children at a school close by.
“Please exercise your influence,” urged the chairman, addressing the Minister who promised to “see to it” without delay.
That construction site drew headlines earlier in the year when dangerous demolition works led to large bricks falling onto the road below.
The inquiry continues next week.