A contractor has been handed a six-month suspended sentence and fined €2,250 after a court found him guilty of breaking health and safety laws. 

The 62-year-old San Ġwann construction contractor was charged in court after one of his workers fell a one-storey height at a construction site in Birkirkara in April 2018. 

The worker, a 41-year-old Libyan national, had been working from a platform without railings, safety nets or harnesses of any kind when he fell.

He was grievously hurt in the incident, which left him hospitalised. 

Following an assessment, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority had pressed charges against the contractor. 

This week, magistrate Astrid May Grima found him guilty of several charges related to breaching occupational health and safety laws. 

Among other things, the contractor was found guilty of failing to safeguard the wellbeing of his workers, taking preventative measures to ensure they were not at risk, not undertaking a risk assessment of the site and not providing the protective equipment needed to do the work safely. 

He was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years and €2,250 fine. 

Under local laws, contractors, project supervisors, directors and owners of construction sites all have health and safety obligations they must observe.

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