On Friday, the country was treated to another shock by the construction sector.

The roof of a building next door to a construction site collapsed, with two workers who were on the roof falling through all three storeys. Both workers were taken to Mater Dei Hospital, having suffered grievous injuries.

The police said that investigations found that the men, who were working on a construction site of a new building, jumped onto the neighbour’s roof to get some material they had, and that the roof of the building caved in with them.

One hopes that both workers make a full recovery.

It was reported that the owners of the building – the one where the roof had collapsed – had moved out when construction had started, out of fear. “My father was scared, he said he did not want to end up like Miriam Pace,” the owner’s daughter told Times of Malta. Had they been living at their Floriana home, they could have very well been hurt, or worse.

People are afraid of living in their own homes!

A magisterial inquiry, and investigations are ongoing. One would imagine that they will look into why material was being stored off the construction site and who gave such an order, as well as the structural integrity of the building and the impact of construction next door, among other things. One awaits the conclusion of those investigations to get a clear picture of what happened.

This is yet the latest construction sector incident in a very, very long line, and we cannot continue going on like this. Two workers could have died.

Jean Paul Sofia, Miriam Pace and Bari Balla are three victims of a sector that, for years, lacked proper regulation and oversight. Cowboys ran the construction sector for too long.

There cannot be any more victims.

Investigations into Bari Balla’s recent death, where he died as a roof collapsed in Sliema, are believed to still be ongoing. In this particular situation, following the collapse, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) issued a statement saying the works had not been sanctioned yet and were carried out without the necessary permits in place. Justice must be served.

The Building and Construction Authority was set up to make the sector safe. A lot of rules and regulations have been created... yet we are still witnessing shocking incidents.

If wrongdoing or negligence is found in a case where someone was injured or died on a construction site, or due to a construction site, the book needs to be thrown at those ultimately responsible for negligence and ignoring regulations.

Enough is enough. Far too many workers have been injured, and far too many people have died in this sector.

The head of the Building and Construction Authority recently resigned. The rest of the Board, bar one, have been asked to resign, although the Prime Minister says that this has nothing to do with the Floriana incident. One must ask however, what about ministerial responsibility?