Jean Paul Sofia is one of the 120 persons who died in a work-related accident on a construction site in the last 20 years.

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority describes the construction industry as an “accident-prone industry” with risks posed by the working environment itself and “organisational factors that influence and increase the creation of a hazardous environment”.

People with professional competence and integrity working in the sector point to serious systemic problems: failure across agencies; incompetence in a substantial number of staff employed; lack of human resources; inadequate legislative framework; poor enforcement.

They believe that, by failing to inquire deeply into these root causes, we will continue to fail to learn and heed lessons.

There are hard-working men and women whose livelihoods, businesses and reputations are put at risk by the gross incompetence they see all around them. They claim that the political class lacks the will to address the serious shortcomings in the industry. They consider the relationship between building contractors and a number of politicians to be incestuous.

Can all this be fixed through magisterial inquiries? Is a magisterial inquiry into a particular fatal case enough to identify all these shortcomings and recommend ways to address them? Are magisterial inquiries in fact part of the problem? People familiar with the way such inquiries work describe them as unstructured, sluggish and subject to a ton of bureaucracy.

Is the solution simply to revisit the procedures of these inquiries and make them more effective? Do some magistrates simply take too long to conclude their inquiries? The personal failings of individual magistrates do not seem adequate to explain the unacceptable time inquiries take to be concluded.

There are at least 1,653 magisterial inquiries in different areas waiting to be concluded since 2010. There are still 29 magisterial inquiries not concluded into accidental deaths of people like Sofia in the construction industry since 2015. So, in the meantime, those responsible are not penalised.

What causes accidents?

Accidents happen for specific and tangible reasons and, in most cases, are preventable. There is no black magic to managing safety risk; just common sense, integrity, professionalism, due diligence and safe work practices applied rigorously and reasonably.

It is always clear that, working back from the event itself, the causes soon emerge. Consider an accident involving a worker falling from a height, a type of accident that happens too frequently, unfortunately.

Working back from the scene of the accident – in the scenario chosen, the consequences are almost always fatal – we first encounter the unfortunate victim.  From the safety wear worn – if any was provided and actually worn – we might establish whether the person was competent to do the work assigned as well as what equipment may have failed, causing the fall. Then we look at the spot from which the person had fallen in the first place. Here we determine whether the work he was doing was actually done according to plan and, if so, whether it was executed following the planned safety measures.

Accidents happen because safety rules and standards are ignored or because contractors are incapable of planning safe work- Evarist Bartolo

Then we would inquire into the availability of the relevant documentation and the accompanying risk assessment. In a number of instances, the law actually demands a risk assessment. Assuming this is found, a lot of questions can then be answered. Was the work effectively and safely planned? Who planned the safe work and did they follow established safety regulations, standards or industry practices? Who took responsibility for the works during execution? Were they competent persons?

Were the safety controls fully and effectively implemented? Was the worker instructed about the safe works method statement and safety controls? Was a system of supervision effectively set up? Was every person in the planning and execution stages competent to do their job? Were the contractor’s representatives responsible for implementing all the requirements?

More questions around safety measures and controls will reveal further details into the accident. The longer we inquire, the closer we get to management and their responsibilities, whether professionally or at law.

Breach of safety

Accidents happen as part of a sequence of events, starting off with management responsibility and ending with the injured worker (or worse) being (supposedly) competent to do the job assigned to him. Any of the steps breached along the way is a breach of safety.

In most cases, safety breaches might incur a criminal liability on account of breaking the safety regulations as well as a civil liability on account of someone’s failure to discharge a duty of care, acting with negligence: a domino effect starting with management failure and ending in tragedy. The inverted timeline describes very clearly the accident from cause (the starting event) through to effect (the consequences).

All of the regulatory stakeholders in the sequence of events just described are players at management level, therefore responsible. So, any shortcut taken by any statutory authority, responsible competent person at planning stage or competent person at supervisory level, is actually a management failure.

There is no hiding the fact. No number of laws or paragraphs of regulations can prevent accidents unless applied and enforced. All accidents at the workplace – including in the construction industry – can be traced back to managerial responsibility through sins of omission or commission and organisational failure.

No amount of political rhetoric or meaningless platitudes can return a

victim to life. Accidents happen because safety rules and standards are ignored or because contractors are incapable of planning safe work, or workers are incapable of operating safely.

The law recognises all this as incompetence. Objective investigation of accidents determines causes. The effects need no further explanation, they speak for themselves.

As for learning from mistakes? Well, that is a mindset that requires humility, objectivity and an ability to critically evaluate the situation, with the well-being of the broader community and society being placed before personal interest. It is a reasonable mind and a caring heart that determine safety, not empty words.

Evarist Bartolo is a former Labour foreign and education minister.