This week it was a Syrian worker aged 22 who fell five storeys into a shaft.

The week before it was the 25-year-old from Fgura who fell inside a Tarxien construction site.

Just two days earlier an Italian worker was injured in a similar way in Zurrieq.

Late last month, a Libyan worker fell to his death, seven storeys below, after being left dangling from the side of a building for several agonising minutes.

The list of construction site accidents grows ever longer.

When such accidents happen, and they are happening with alarming frequency, many are quick to point their finger at the Occupational Health and Safety Authority – the OHSA – for failing to enforce the rules. Because the rules are there, on paper, but there are simply not enough people to go round all of Malta’s building sites – and let us keep in mind that the country is now one big building site.

People are justified in blaming the authority which is supposed to ensure that all health and safety rules are followed at all times. We cannot blame the actual workers there - they are doing their job to the best of their abilities. But the political class have not seen fit to reinforce the OHSA with the workers and resources it needs. Politicians are happy to employ thousands of people in unnecessary jobs but it seems that building site inspectors are considered less important than seaweed collectors, gardeners or light bulb changers.

This administration has opened the floodgates and rendered the country into one big construction mess. The least it could do is to ensure that the OHSA’s resources reflect the growth in the construction industry. Its resources were not adequate before the building boom started and they are definitely not adequate now.

But even if the OHSA gets another hundred inspectors, it can never monitor all building sites simultaneously. This means that contractors have to do their bit as well. Now contractors know what their duties and responsibilities are. Many of them obey the rules, and we have observed a very positive shift towards safer work practices. But some others do not want to abide by the rules - they try to cut corners and costs, even if this places their employees’ lives in danger.

We have seen ourselves how contractors working on adjacent sites can employ totally different work ethics. One company might equip its workers with all the right safety gear, put up hoarding to keep the dust from flying out and stick to humane working hours. But a few metres away, one might see workers dangling off the side of a building with no harness, gloves or helmet, dust flying everywhere and workers toiling until well after dark.

To be fair this is not just about contractors. The same applies for smaller entreprises, like plasterers, window fitters and air conditioning technicians, who might not fall under a contractor or agency but rather work on their own.

Since the rules are not being obeyed by some, fines for failure to observe health and safety laws have to be stepped up significantly. Those who follow the rules have nothing to fear. Those who don’t would better do. No one can put a price on life.