Unknown architect 'told people to leave site'

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority has been anonymously informed that an architect who happened to be in the locality of the building which collapsed in St Paul's Bay had warned the people accompanying him that the building looked very dangerous and in imminent danger of collapse.

Two women, a Maltese national and her Russian student, died in the tragedy.

The authority's chief executive officer, Mark Gauci, said that according to the information received by the authority the architect advised the people to leave the place immediately. This happened less than 90 minutes prior to the actual collapse of the building.

Had this architect informed the responsible authorities, perhaps this tragic accident would have been avoided, Dr Gauci said, adding that the authority was not aware of the identity of the architect.

This incident, he said, highlighted the general feeling of apathy and lack of responsibility for others.

Dr Gauci said in a statement that the number of workplace fatalities relative to the number of workers in Malta was very low when compared to the EU25.

He said that according to the National Office of Statistics publication Benchmarking Malta in Europe, Malta had the third lowest rate, preceded slightly by Luxembourg and Ireland.

Countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden, among others, where a high level of worker protection was lauded, even by certain contributors to the media, lagged far behind Malta.

Dr Gauci said that over the past weeks there had been various articles, letters and comments in newspapers regarding the state of occupational health and safety in Malta. This was being portrayed as primitive and mediocre and Malta was depicted as the most fertile terrain for accidents and fatalities at the place of work.

This, however, was a far cry from reality. There had been a significant and marked downward trend in the annual number of accidents.

The OHSA said there may be the perception that accidents were on the increase because there was more media awareness and the accidents were now being reported. "This in itself is very commendable but some people are getting the wrong impression that the accidents, and not awareness, is increasing."

The OHSA said that another report, issued by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, also proved that Malta fared very well in the area of occupational health and safety when compared to the other EU countries.

This was also confirmed by the director of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work during his visit to Malta two weeks ago.

The OHSA said it passed with flying colours a peer review exercise carried out by representatives from the EU's Committee of Senior Labour Inspectors that analysed the inspection, administrative and legal systems in the area of occupational health and safety in Malta.

The major problem identified was that related to effective social partner participation, where a wider scope for social partnership through active participation between employers and trade unions in the area of OHS was deemed fundamental and still lacking.

Dr Gauci said that following Malta's accession to the EU, the OHSA intensified its role as an enforcement entity but retained its educational role on a smaller scale.

In fact, the number of prosecutions increased dramatically in the last months. Media criticism increased significantly following this shift in OHSA's operations, raising serious doubts about the real motive behind such criticism, Dr Gauci said.

He said that workplace inspections were on the increase but OHS officers could not be everywhere at the same time. There had to be authentic, concerted action on the part of all stakeholders.

Accidents could be avoided and lives could be spared if OHS was given the importance it merited from everyone and action was taken as soon as bad practice was noted.