The government cannot continue to hide behind inquiries which take months, if not years, to be concluded and behind processes which exempt people from responsibilities relating to health and safety on construction sites, the Nationalist Party said.

The party was commenting in a statement issued one day after Isabelle Bonnici, the mother of Jean Paul Sofia, a 20-year-old who died in a construction collapse earlier this December, called for justice and a public inquiry for her slain son.

It noted that four weeks after the tragedy, the government had not taken action, the family was still in the dark, and the industry had continued to operate as if this was an isolated case and there did not exist similar sites with similar risks.

It was the government’s responsibility to revise policies and regulations that were allowing abuse. It should also provide modern tools, including the required human resources, to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority for this to keep up with the number of required inspections.

While it appreciated the fact that the process to licence contractors would be embarked upon soon, the PN emphasised the need for this to be a rigorous, fair and transparent process without exceptions or favours and that all sectors related to the construction industry should require licencing.

In this case and in similar ones, the inquiring magistrate should be exempt from other work for justice to be carried out within a reasonable time, the PN said.

Reiterating its proposal for specialised inquiring magistrates, the party insisted that the government should create more effective and efficient processes and provide the necessary resources to backlogs to acceptable levels.

It was also the responsibility of the government and the concerned authorities to ensure that recommendations in reports and inquiries are immediately implemented to reduce occupational risk.