Dr Galea was speaking during a debate on the budget for the Malta Health and Safety Authority, which was approved seven months since the beginning of the financial year.

Dr Galea said that while the authority was responsible for the enforcement of the law, the employers were duty-bound to ensure the health and safety of their employees.

He said that during 2003 the authority also worked towards educating people to respect health and safety standards in the work place. He said 40 students had already achieved their diploma in health and safety while another 36 students were currently attending the course at university.

He said that according to statistics, the number of accidents in the work place were far lower than a few years ago, adding that the number of accidents was now “contained”.

On her part, Labour MP Marie Louise Coliero said it was “nonsensical” that the budget estimates for the year starting in October 2003 was approved in April 2004. She also remarked that the budget parliament was discussing yesterday amounted to Lm66,500 less than what was budgeted in the previous financial year.

She said that while in 2002/2003 the amount budgeted for the authority was Lm156,436, the amount approved yesterday was Lm90,000. But in his reply, Dr Galea justified this decrease by saying that the amount was used to bring Maltese legislation on health and safety in line with the Aquis Communitaire.

Ms Coleiro claimed that there was a private contractor who had won a government tender to conduct drainage work who was paying his employees the minimum wage and did not provide the right safety equipment for his employees.

Commenting on the 18 inspectors the authority employed, Ms Coleiro said that these made 564 spot checks on work places in 2003 when there were 45,411 registered work places.