Tuesday’s tragic accident in Hamrun, in which two workmen lost their life after a ceiling collapsed, stirred a debate regarding occupational health and safety standards nation-wide, particularly since this was preceded by another accident at a building site in Mellieha on Monday, when a 57-year-old man was seriously injured.
Occupational Health and Safety Authority CEO Mark Gauci told The Malta Independent yesterday that the engagement of all stakeholders was needed for an overall improvement of occupational health and safety standards.
Dr Gauci said that while any accident that claimed a human life posed a serious concern, statistics showed that the number of such accidents was in fact on the downside. While regretting Tuesday’s accident, he said OHSA is carrying out an investigation in line with the magisterial inquiry.
In Tuesday’s accident, Godwin Buhagiar, a 44-year-old father of four, two girls and two boys, and a 23-year-old Serbian died after a newly-laid ceiling in a construction site collapsed. They were working on a construction site in Barbara Street, at a corner with Frans Camilleri Street when the ceiling they were laying gave way.
The ceiling was the one covering the entrance to the block of apartments that is being built.
In a statement issued yesterday, the police said the autopsy on the bodies of the workers showed that they died after sufferring fractures to the skull and other parts of the body.
On Monday, a worker was seriously injured at a building site in Mellieha, when equipment used in the construction of concrete stairs gave way.
Dr Gauci pointed out that the number of accidents at the workplace this year was relatively low and unfortunately this was the first such tragic accident.
“We have had two accidents in two days now, but our statistics reflect a different scenario. OHSA is bound to carry out awareness and information campaigns, issue guidelines and enforce the legislative framework,” said Dr Gauci.
Asked about enforcement, he mentioned OHSA’s “extensive” efforts and proactive approach in bringing about change, but he pointed out that the authority was not the only stakeholder in this regard.
“Our strategy is to work in line with the new EU strategy to engage all social partners in the process leading to improved health and safety standards. Our aim is to engage all stakeholders, as it is only in this manner that we can prove to be successful in our endeavours,” stated Dr Gauci.
However, in a statement issued yesterday afternoon, Labour’s main spokesperson for social solidarity, Marie Louisa Coleiro-Preca questioned OHSA’s regulations, their implementation and enforcement.
She said the Nationalist government had to see what was being done by the authority and take the necessary steps to have all preventive measures in place.
Dr Coleiro-Preca said the families of those who lost their life at the workplace should be given all the necessary help to establish the way things happened exactly, but they should also be awarded compensation and be given all necessary solidarity.
Government ministers Tonio Borg, Louis Galea and Ninu Zammit, as well as Opposition Leader Alfred Sant, deputy leaders Michael Falzon and Charles Mangion and MLP secretary-general Jason Micallef were on site on Tuesday during the course of the operation, which lasted three-and-a-half hours and involved more than 100 people.