Workers in the construction sector have shed light on the hazardous working conditions on construction sites around Malta, with the fast-paced tempo of construction activities being the main reason why health and safety regulations are often overlooked and disregarded.
Last Wednesday, the Justice and Peace Commission, within the Archdiocese of Malta, made eight recommendations to authorities and stakeholders in Malta’s construction industry for increased safety and fairness for workers in the sector.
The Commission released a research report titled The Ejja Ejja Culture, which was initiated over a year ago in response to an increase of serious accidents resulting in the death of 25 construction workers between 2019 and 2022.
The Commission conducted over 40 interviews with workers, supervisors, employers, professionals and organisational representatives in the construction sector. The 22 interviews with workers in the sector, some of whom employed without a permit, clearly showed that their safety concerns often go unheard.
What the Commission was told by these workers is included in its report. Where names are not mentioned, the identity of the interviewee was withheld.
A fast-paced sector
The primary reason for this lack of attention to health and safety matters is the ejja, ejja! (fast, fast) culture existing in the sector. A Maltese stonemason interviewed in the study said that “accidents are increasing in frequency, because work has to be done quickly”.
In fact, another Maltese worker said that “the owner tells you that you are either going to finish the job in a month or else he will give the job to someone else”.
Politics and pressure from the government also play a role. A worker coming from the Ivory Coast and who has been working in road construction for the past eight years, also accounted for this, saying that “in my current workplace, they have started making pressure. We have to finish, because the government wants to inaugurate the project”.
The workers also remarked that if they follow basic health and safety measures, they would indeed be less productive, and that it increases expenses.
Even Michael Stivala, the president of the Malta Developers Association (MDA), who also participated in the study, acknowledged that “everything is fast today”.
The pressure does not only come from contractors’ intent on protecting their income, but also comes from the clients themselves, and as explained by a Maltese worker, health and safety regulations and requirements “increase expenses for clients and that’s why they hold back”.
A young Sudanese worker who does electricity and plumbing work on construction sites, believes that bosses and supervisors should be the ones taking care of their workers.
“They don’t care about the safety, about the worker. They care about how we do the work properly and fast. All he cares about is fast, fast, fast,” he said, adding that the supervisor’s job is “to make you angry and push you”, without any care for safety.
An architect, who works with a construction company, was also spoken to and he admitted that “the commendable efforts which, in some quarters, we have witnessed in recent years to improve health and safety at the place of work, have been practically nullified by the current boom in construction and the tight deadlines associated with construction”.
A chapter in the study discusses the notion of work becoming “a game of chance”. The working conditions of people working in the sector vary widely according to the goodwill – or otherwise – of their bosses.
The study highlighted how the boss-worker relationship in the construction industry has become important from a health and safety perspective.
A Maltese contractor interviewed in the study stressed that from a purely business perspective, it does not make sense for an employer to have a huge turnover of workers who are unhappy or feel unsafe on the job.
He said that he tries to treat them well, as it is “not in my interest to lose them after having invested so much time and energy in them”.
Such a “system” can be seen as problematic, as it over-relies on relationships and the goodwill of individuals.
This does not work out well for those with no relationship with the employer, as the study highlighted the case of some workers, who are usually migrant workers, who started out working in construction by waiting for someone to pick them up from a roundabout, mentioning Marsa and Floriana as two locations where workers have been “picked up”.
This “game of chance” often leads to the presence and prevalence of wage exploitation, racial discrimination and unsafe work practices, which all “depend on the individual” employing workers. In fact, many of the workers reiterated the same words, “sometimes people don’t care”.
Migrant workers paid ‘peanuts’ in exchange for free accommodation
The study raised alarms over the exploitation of migrant workers in the construction industry, where many migrants resort to construction work because it is the easiest job they can find, or because they have no other choice.
A Maltese stonemason, who has worked in the industry for decades, said that it is an open secret that some migrant workers are paid “peanuts” while being offered “free” accommodation.
You will find those who pay pittance to their workers, especially those who have space to accommodate them in a garage or something, to save rent, he said.
Yana Mintoff from the Association for Justice, Equality and Peace and Mario Gerada from the Migrants Commission, both said that the issue of racialisation in the workplace is tied to broader migration policies.
They said that these policies are leading to the failure of allowing asylum seekers registered in other EU countries such as Italy, permission to work legally in Malta, while the country actively encourages the “very expensive” and “equally exploitative” importation of third-country nationals from other countries.
The Commission’s study also pointed out that black workers face humiliation and disempowerment in the workplace. A migrant worker explained that “black” people are often afraid to speak up and are scared of refusing to perform a job when conditions are not safe.
When problems are created by the Maltese, they can easily be fixed. But when a black person creates a small problem, it becomes a huge problem for the foreman, the worker said, adding that Maltese workers “get increase, but we don’t get increase”, referring to pay raises.
He continued to explain that they are often treated as almost “dumb”, even if they have more experience working in the sector than the Maltese. He said that bosses do not want to accept that they have experience, to avoid increasing their pay.
Migrant workers also expressed a fear of destitution, fuelled by the need to earn money, especially for family members. If they are let go, these workers are left completely vulnerable and powerless, and can also become homeless.
Moreover, he said that “when blacks come to Malta, they all want to go. Because they don’t try to help us”, adding that for the boss, the black worker will always “be and remain a helper”, leaving no choice but to follow and do as they say.
A shocking account in the study came from a trade union official who repeatedly shifted the blame on workers and their “careless” attitude and said that people from “other” countries and cultures are not tragically afflicted by the loss of a loved one in the same way as “we” (the Maltese, European) are.
In the interview, the trade union official gave the impression that “African” workers suffer from a kind of invincible ignorance when it comes to health and safety. The study said that these workers are often treated as “brainless” workers.
OHSA officials only interested in ‘punishing’ with fines
Not many positive things can be said about health and safety training or enforcement, as the study recounted how workers often felt that the only safety measure in place at his workplace was “to trust in God”!
Inspectors from the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) are also severely understaffed and are “only interested in punishing you” with fines, and only inspect a construction site from the outside, the report said.
It was also pointed out that it is severely unclear on who is responsible for what, and when an accident does happen, all parties resort to pointing fingers at each other.
Many of the construction workers said that they felt scared, given how dangerous the job is, and agreed that there must be rules and training before telling someone to do something risky, especially those without experience or training.
Workers reported a blatant lack of access to essential safety gear, including helmets, gloves, shoes and protective clothing. Most often, they are given only shoes, or none at all, and some bosses even passed on the expense to the workers, simply telling them that if they could do without safety gear, then it would be alright by them.
The Commission’s study also revealed, through an interview with a contractor, that Maltese and foreigners alike prefer not to use safety equipment, pointing out that certain safety procedures “fall foul of a culture of ‘machismo’”.
Focus is given more to the quality of the work in question, rather than the safety of the workers, even in training courses. The language barrier between migrant workers and their bosses also became a problem when it comes to safety, with contractors saying that they have to teach their foreign workers that when they say “igri” it means “run” or “move”.
Many workers highlight the inadequacy of safety training provided by employers, and for those who do have training and experience, they are not recognised. If a worker gets injured at the workplace, the “boss” often does not care or tells migrant workers not to go to the police or Mater Dei Hospital.
Were it not for the European Union, health and safety in the Maltese construction industry would be “much less regulated”, one interviewee said.
A worker from Ghana said that what would make a difference is a special union, which is on the workers’ side. “We don’t have any office where we can go for our rights. Nobody talks for us,” he said.
The accounts of workers, especially migrant ones, in the construction sector have underscored the urgent need for improved safety standards.
Despite government now being in the process of having a system to license contractors, as well as insurance policies for the site, there is still much more to be done in the fight against “slave” labour, and in the overall health and safety practices at construction sites, to avoid more deaths at the workplace.