The Occupational Health and Safety Authority yesterday launched a code of practice consultation document and a checklist on safety on construction sites.

The constituted bodies, organisations and interested parties have been asked to give their feedback on the code of practice by 26 May. The authority will then review the submissions it receives and eventually publish a final code.

OHSA chairperson Roberta Messina told the media yesterday that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has estimated that occupational accidents cost countries an average of four per cent of their Gross Domestic Product. She said that if one were to apply this rate to Malta, the figure amounts to around Lm76 million a year.

OHSA chief executive Mark Gauci said the construction industry in Malta is faced with a number of specific problems such as a large number of illegal workers. The police had to be called in to investigate workplace abuse, he said, and some workers had even put up barricades on construction sites.

Commenting on the public’s negative perception of construction standards, Dr Gauci said that this could be due to the fact that there are around 6,500 to 7,000 ongoing construction projects apart from road building and maintenance work. There were 652 reported accidents in the construction sector last year – equivalent to 16.5 per cent of all occupational accidents.

“One cannot exclude the fact that a number of accidents are not reported for a number of reasons. During 2005, 50 per cent of occupational fatalities happened on construction sites. Although, the number of construction projects has increased, this does not mean that we can justify these figures and lower health and safety standards,” Dr Gauci said.

The aim of the code of practice is to serve as a practical guide on the technical, administrative and legal framework in the field of health and safety in construction.

This is required to obtain improvement, especially in the working environment, to ensure a better level of protection of the health and safety of workers in this sector, and to obtain an improvement in people’s attitudes and views towards occupational health and safety in the construction industry.

Another publication that was launched yesterday is a guidance checklist that builders, clients, contractors, sub-contractors and architects among others will find useful. The aim of this checklist is to make it easier for those in the construction sector to check which health and safety measures they need to adopt.

This checklist lists the main hazards found on construction sites and allows users to tick what measures have already been taken and to check what steps still needs to adopted.

The most important safety signs and guidelines for demolition, excavation, construction work or the installation of services are also included.

For more information, contact the OHSA on tel. 21247677/8, email on [email protected] or visit the OHSA website: www.ohsa.org.mt.