The pleas of a distressed mother for a public inquiry after her young son died in a building collapse failed to move the government.
The findings of a non-governmental investigation should, however, lead those involved in the construction industry, their families and all concerned citizens to insist a public inquiry is immediately launched.
A report, aptly themed Victims of Malta’s Construction Boom: The Fatal Wait for Accountability, reaches very disturbing conclusions given the very dangerous nature of the building industry. It was drafted by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation for the Public Interest Litigation Network.
Not being a government entity, the foundation had to work on information either in the public domain or that supplied by official sources. It soon became very clear that information available is inadequate and that a proper and systematic document system is lacking. Still, it proceeded with the investigation by piecing together the data it could access. The ultimate picture is terrifying.
Among other things, it resulted that, of the 49 fatalities registered between 2010 and last year, 34 cases remain open, even dating back to 2012. There was a court decision only in five of the 15 other cases and nobody could be prosecuted in the remaining 10.
The average fine imposed by the criminal court for a fatality amounted to €7,030. The precarity of many a construction worker’s life, especially if it is a third-country national, is present even in their death.
As if to stress this lax attitude, no warrants of architects, or periti, were suspended or revoked over the past 23 years in relation to construction deaths. The president of the Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers blames the slow criminal justice system for the chamber’s failure to take disciplinary against members responsible for construction site fatalities.
Indeed, the Fatal Wait for Accountability report rightly observes that construction fatality victims die a second time due to “Malta’s excruciatingly slow justice system and questionable action or inaction against those responsible”.
If this is already bad enough, it gets even worse.
An unspecified number of workers are undocumented and, therefore, do not exist to the authorities. Which means any injuries they sustain – unless hospital treatment is required – are not listed in publicly available official data.
It also appears that statistics the Occupational Health and Safety Authority has regarding fatalities exclude victims of construction activity. If included, it will raise the number of fatalities related to the building industry.
The non-governmental investigation also found that some of the entities responsible for different aspects of the sector were set up in a piecemeal fashion with their roles and responsibilities at times found to be “ambiguous”.
The report further noted that, due to the lack of official information being disseminated, the public is unable “to hold to account those responsible for the shortcomings that have proven to be fatal time and time again”.
Effective enforcement is lacking and available human resources are insufficient. Penalties do not fit the crime and court inquiries take too long.
The authors of the report were unable to have a clear picture of who is ultimately responsible for workers’ health and safety, especially in the case of the self-employed.
The construction industry may be booming and making many people rich – even millionaires – but the regulatory regime is cracked and collapsing, turning building sites into killing fields. A public inquiry set up by law can set the ball rolling to change that.