Updated Wednesday March 1 with OHSA reaction
A couple has spoken of its shock after a construction worker fell three storeys into their Sliema backyard, smashing through a pane of glass in the process.
The man was working on the construction of new apartments on the top floor of the four-floor property, the couple told Times of Malta.
“I don’t know how he survived the fall,” said Hayley Smith, who lives in the ground floor maisonette on Creche Road with her partner Joe.
“The worker was conscious but very injured,” she said, adding that the man was taken away on a stretcher with “clearly a lot of broken bones”.
The couple was alerted to the accident following a call from the building owner, who requested they return home to allow emergency services access to the backyard.
'Multiple incidents in past months'
Smith recalled multiple accidents linked to the construction site since works began last year, including planks of wood and cement falling into their yard and water flooding the building’s inside shaft, leading to an infestation of mould in the apartment.
One such accident shattered the glass roof in their backyard. The pane remained in place until the worker crashed through it on Tuesday.
These accidents forced the couple to stop using their backyard, fearing for the safety of their baby and dog, Smith explained.
In one accident, cement dropped onto the couple’s car parked on the street, causing damage to the chassis.
The couple attempted to find out the name of the construction company but was unable to do so.
In addition to the company not displaying any identifying signage outside the property, the company was using an unmarked van, the couple claimed.
The couple complained to the OHSA about the unsafe scaffolding outside their property.Complaint lodged with OHSA in September
The couple also described how the construction company had erected "unsafe scaffolding" outside the property, with the structure’s supporting legs hanging over the edge of the pavement.
Despite repeated complaints to the building owner, who they describe as “dismissive” of their concerns, the situation did not improve.
In September last year, the couple lodged a complaint with the Occupational Health & Safety Authority (OHSA), although to date they have received no reply from the authority.
Before that - in July - the couple also alerted the Sliema local council to the unsafe construction but did not receive a response.
The OHSA told Times of Malta that it had investigated a complaint at the site concerning dangerous scaffolding in September, and given the developer an ultimatum to fix the structure or dismantle it.
When inspectors returned five days later, the scaffolding had been dismantled, it said.
“Yesterday’s accident was totally unrelated to the original complaint and is being investigated by OHSA,” the authority said in relation to the worker's fall on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers renewed calls for the government to introduce licensing for contractors on construction sites, following a dangerous demolition in Birkirkara.
The following day, Planning Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi announced that a draft law to regulate contractors is expected in March, over three years since the measure was first promised by former Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg in July 2019.