EU health and safety project ends

Malta is in a better position to implement European Union health and safety legislation now that a year-long EU-funded twinning project with the UK and Ireland has been completed on time and on budget.

The E700,000 project was a joint venture between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of the UK, Ireland's Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA).

Half the budget was earmarked for expert personnel, mostly health and safety inspectors to provide training for the OHSA; the rest will go towards the acquisition of monitoring equipment and the establishment of a management information system.

The OHSA was set up in January last year under the new Health and Safety Act. Stuart Bullock, who has worked with the HSE for over 16 years, was assigned to the OHSA as a pre-accession adviser. A law graduate and a member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), he has held several posts within the HSE. His most recent appointment was head of the HSE branch responsible for work equipment and machinery safety. He has worked on twinning projects before and was adviser to the Czech and Slovak Ministries of Labour in 1992/3.

The first ever agreement to be signed in Malta under the EU's pre-accession funding programme - and the first to be completed - assists applicant countries to establish an effective, efficient and sustainable administration to guarantee the implementation of EU legislation. It also provides funding for secondments for administrative and organisation support.

Over the past year, Mr Bullock drafted a mission statement for the OHSA and made several recommendations on strategy and policy. Much of his stay was devoted to raising awareness of health and safety issues in all sectors of the community and he has addressed several seminars and workshops.

Among these was a seminar for Civil Protection and police personnel on the hazards of fireworks manufacturing and another for fireworks factories licence holders. The latter was attended by 70 people who had positive comments to give on a post-event questionnaire. Mr Bullock has also worked hard to rope in the social partners into playing an effective role to heighten health and safety awareness.

Throughout the past year, the OHSA has recruited 11 health and safety inspectors, an engineer, a chemist, two radiation specialists and administration staff. The authority will eventually reach a full staff complement of around 40, which will include additional health and safety inspectors.

On January 15, a conference to mark the end of the twinning year entitled "Occupational health and safety - concerns into actions" was addressed by Irish HSA chairman Frank Cunneen and Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who revealed that occupational accidents and illness cost the economy Lm14 million in 2002.

"It is important that a culture on health and safety awareness is instilled," Mr Bullock told The Sunday Times before leaving Malta to return to the UK. "It should start at school. For example, students in chemistry laboratories in schools should be made aware of the potential hazards they face and how to manage the risks that these hazards present. It should be ensured that they are wearing the appropriate protection."

Construction health and safety shortcomings is the biggest cause of accidents in Europe. And Mr Bullock says that the single most common accident is falling from a height.

Awareness should reach the entire spectrum of the population to the extent that companies or employees would not want to be associated with organisations which have a poor health and safety record.

"Health and safety measures do not add to costs," Mr Bullock insists. "If companies provide good working conditions, they avoid the cost of accidents and reduce insurance claims. In Malta, politicians agree that workers have a right to protection."

And whether Malta joins the EU or not, the European model would still have to be adhered to.

"At the end of the day, employers are the people who create the risks and they are the legal duty holders who must stop accidents from happening," says Mr Bullock. The cost to industry of accidents runs into millions. More importantly, the cost to victims and families is immeasurable.