The public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia has thus far been interesting insofar as acquiring the background to the inner processes of authorities such as the Occupational Health & Safety Authority (OHSA) and the Building & Construction Authority (BCA).

One of the angles of questioning taken by the board – ably chaired by retired Judge and current Ombudsman Joseph Zammit McKeon, who is joined by court expert and architect Mario Cassar and Auditor General Charles Deguara – has been on the budgets which the central government has made available to these authorities in the past years.

It is an angle worthy of investigation: it is plain for all to see that enforcement in the construction sector (and, quite frankly, in basically every other sector in the country) is severely lacking, and resources – or the lack thereof – is certainly a key part of that.

The term ‘resources’ is a broad one: it encapsulates financial resources and human resources, amongst others, in one.  The top officials of the BCA and OHSA spoke about both of these aspects during their respective public inquiry testimonies, but particular attention has been given to the financing side of things.

The BCA’s first CEO Karl Azzopardi – who's departure from the authorty is contentious and subject to proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal – testified of how he wanted to increase the human resources department to have no less than 300 people working at the authority, which is responsible for enforcing standards within the construction industry.

Azzopardi said that his first request to the Finance Ministry was for a budget of €18 million, but the authority ultimately got €9 million, meaning that recruitment efforts only allowed for the authority’s staff levels to increase from 45 in April 2021 to 70 when he was dismissed around a year later.

That meant that there were only 11 enforcement inspectors within the BCA’s ranks by that point – a situation which has improved since then, with the authority now employing 21 people in the enforcement team across all ranks.

A similar type of story could be discerned from the testimony of OHSA chairman David Xuereb, who said that the authority – which is responsible for workplace safety – had identified that it needed to triple its enforcement team from 14 to 45 people, which would have needed an additional €2 million in funding spread across three years.

This funding is yet to be granted, though.

It is easy, when something happens, to blame authorities such as the BCA and the OHSA for certain shortcomings because they are the ones who are first and foremost responsible for enforcement.  Indeed, many times such authorities do have some responsibility to shoulder – but at the same time one must also identify that these authorities are operating with the cards – or euros, in this case – that they are dealt with.

The willingness to increase enforcement must start from the central government, and it must translate that willingness in the form of an increased financial budget granted to these authorities.  Saying that one wants to put one’s foot down on illegalities but at the same time not opening the wallet up to back that claim up means that all that is being said are words into the void.

We are talking of a shortfall of €9 million in the case of the BCA and of €2 million split across three years – so around €660,000 per year – for the OHSA. 

This is money which could have been granted and would have gone a long way in further enforcing an industry where there is high-risk of injury and where deaths are not uncommon when compared to other sectors.

Instead, we must hear of how the government has instead forked out €47 million of the same taxpayer’s money in rebates to a Hollywood film and be told by Film Commissioner Johann Grech – a political appointee who went straight from the Office of the Prime Minister into his post and who didn’t even have the courage to face journalists in saying what he said – that anyone who dares criticise this hand out is “attacking the film industry” and by extension attacking the country.

It is rare that we have this budgetary insight into government authorities such as the BCA and the OHSA, but the public inquiry into Jean Paul Sofia’s death has provided further proof that the government needs to take a long hard look at what its priorities are now, and what they should be so that people can benefit the most.