Almost four years after having joined the EU, the Maltese government has not yet ratified any conventions of the International Labour Organisation on occupational health and safety (OH&S), General Workers Union secretary general Tony Zarb said yesterday.
Mr Zarb was delivering the closing address at a national conference on OH&S at the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard, organised by the GWU. He said that practically all the other countries that joined the EU when Malta did have ratified many of the conventions.
The conference delved into the various facets of occupational health and safety and highlighted the need for the various stakeholders to come together in a spirit of social dialogue, treating the matter as one that goes beyond mere regulations, since certain situations can be life-threatening and others have proven to be fatal.
The conference was attended by representatives from practically every part of civil society – employers, employees, trade unions, government and political parties.
The general feeling was that despite the high-quality legal framework regulating OH&S, enforcement leaves a lot to be desired and a lot still needs to be done to promote better standards in OH&S.
Many people at yesterday’s conference were of the opinion that despite big improvements in OH&S standards, a lot still needs to be done to change attitudes towards the matter, making both employers and employees understand that they only stand to gain from protecting themselves against situations that can prove to be harmful to them or others.
Illegally employed foreigners
Among the issues that were brought up at the conference was the problem with illegally employed foreigners.
Mark Gauci, chief executive officer of the Operational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), said that one third of the fatalities at the workplace involve illegally employed workers.
Another issue that was brought up was the fact that workers are sometimes exposed to certain diseases that refugee workers may have.
The matter was raised by GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia, who said that in no way did he mean that refugee workers were not welcome, but if there were certain diseases that they brought with them, the authorities must deal with the situation and see what needs to be done.
Others also commented that many refugee workers had been diagnosed with latent tuberculosis. However, the OHSA CEO pointed out this was normal and latent tuberculosis was not something rare in the Maltese population.
OHSA action over the past five years
Dr Gauci said that since 2000, there were 60 fatalities at the workplace. Nonetheless, he said that both the number of injuries and deaths have been on a steady decrease over the years.
The OHSA was set up some five years ago, said Dr Gauci, giving a brief outline of the work carried out at the authority over this period.
He said the authority’s work included 7,350 workplace visits until September last year, 14,394 equipment certificates examined, 3,419 hours of training delivered and 32 sets of regulations published.
Among other work, the OHSA also participated in EU programmes and projects to organise education campaigns in schools, hotels and restaurants, for example. A number of codes of practices and guides were also published, said Mr Gauci.
He said the OHSA would like to focus more on high-risk areas, however, and appealed to the public to acknowledge the need of the authority and to seek its help whenever required.
OH&S is not just about protective equipment
Many pointed out that OH&S is not just about protective equipment; it incorporates a number of other standards that need to be met to fully protect workers.
The importance of OH&S is also not only in the construction and manufacturing industries.
One of the speakers noted that members of staff at Mater Dei Hospital, for example, were getting more stressed out than they used to be at St Luke’s Hospital, particularly because the new hospital is larger and the workload has increased.
Another speaker said that OH&S did not only deal with physical health, but also mental health. Workers in every sector are affected and nobody can underestimate the detriment to their health due to a failure to enforce OH&S regulations, said the speaker.
Moreover, OH&S was not only a matter of accidents at the workplace. Many spoke about the fact that certain workers are exposed to dangerous materials that may put them at risk of contracting some disease or other later on in their lives.
The way forward
Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea spoke about the fact that the government is currently strengthening the OHSA, empowering it to impose administrative fines whenever OH&S standards are not respected.
The OHSA is also engaging more enforcement officers and it is being further strengthened because it is obliged to follow a number of EU directives relating to OH&S said the minister.
The Labour Party’s main spokesman for social solidarity, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca also spoke about the MLP’s intention to strengthen the OHSA.
She highlighted the MLP’s extensive plans for this sector, saying the OHSA requires more resources, because workers’ lives cannot be compromised.
Delivering the closing address, the GWU secretary general said the union had long been urging the establishment of the OHSA.
OH&S was one of the primary aims why the union was established, said Mr Zarb, adding that among its main proposals, the GWU was suggesting that machinery be tested at least once a year and that people should refuse to work in dangerous situations that place their lives at risk.
He added that ongoing inspections should be carried out by OHSA inspectors and that more inspectors be employed. “Currently, there are many more inspectors to check bus tickets than there are OHSA inspectors to protect workers’ lives,” said Mr Zarb.