Prevention is better than cure

An important aspect of the relationship between employers and their employees is the provision of a safe working environment.

This is a principle that works in the mutual interest of all social partners and for this reason occupational health and safety has become one of the main items on the social policy agenda.

A person's life is not limited to just working or to earning money, it extends to other important factors that contribute significantly towards making one's life complete and fulfilling.

Should one or more of these important factors be damaged, they could bring about a substantial depreciation of our psychological and intellectual faculties. And it is here that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority Act and other regulations are set to play an important regulatory role in trying to avoid these losses and in striving to promote health and safety as a prime factor at every workplace.

These regulations are not only limited to high risk workplaces such as a construction site but they also aim to protect an individual working at his desk using a computer.

When defining a worker, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority Act does not only mention a person employed by the employer but it includes an apprentice, a trainee and a self-employed person.

Therefore, the employer's responsibility is rather extensive and it is in his interest to safeguard the health and safety of all those he is responsible for.

It is the duty of the employer to ensure that health and safety regulations are adhered to at all times by those employees who may be affected by the work being carried out for him. This obligation imposed by law may give rise to many questions.

Is this the sole responsibility of the employer? What about the responsibilities of the worker? Is he responsible and if yes to what extent?

The worker is duty bound to safeguard his own health and safety and that of other persons who can be affected by the work which is being carried out.

Furthermore, the worker is to cooperate with the employer as well as with the health and safety representatives at the workplace on all matters relating to health and safety.

This may seem to shift the burden of responsibility onto the worker. However, a closer look at the law will show that the workers' obligation in occupational health and safety shall not affect the principle of the responsibility of the employer, hence sustaining that it is the employer's mission to develop a sound health and safety environment at the workplace.

Another interesting feature to be highlighted is the wide definition the law gives to the term "workplace". One may be tempted to conclude that workplace is limited to the building where the company is situated. However, the law defines workplace as "any premises, place, facility, vessel or other thing or location, whether public or private where work is carried out or to which the worker has access in the course of his employment".

Therefore, what does this mean in practical terms? If, for example, the offices of the company are situated in Valletta but the worker is injured while working on a construction site in, say, Safi, such outside work does not exonerate the employer from being responsible just because the worker was in another place.

In this situation, the employee working at Safi falls under the employer's responsibility, hence extending the employer's duty to maintain health and safety wherever his workers are stationed.

When discussing the concept of occupational health and safety, the law should not be our only reference as such an issue also involves practical experience which one has to find and use.

The law regulates while practicality and rationality help us further to prevent accidents from ensuing at the workplace, consequently safety should be part of the corporate culture. Therefore, the million dollar question is: what can be done to prevent accidents at the work place?

Education is a key aspect because knowing the consequences of an action will make one more aware and will, as a result, reduce risk taking.

Knowledge about health and safety is not something one acquires overnight, it is a learning process that should start at a young age and grow with us as part of our normal daily life.

Training should also form part of good management. The employees should be trained on how to do the job they are required to carry out and, more importantly, they should also be trained on how to perform their work safely.

It is true that training in itself is a cost but employers should not overlook the long-term benefits of investing in their worker's safety. Employers should consider the resultant benefit. Education and training are only two important tools that may help in increasing awareness of health and safety practices in the workplace and will surely contribute to the reduction of workplace fatalities.

Additional improvement in health and safety entails a major cultural change and this cannot be achieved by the employer alone. In order for health and safety to be part of a worker's culture, it should be on the agenda of all the social partners, that is the employers, the unions and the government.

Through concerted action, they can contribute towards placing occupational health and safety issues high on the social policy agenda.

What the law promotes gives one further reason to start thinking differently and to recognise it is in the management's interest to raise workplace safety to the same level of importance as sales revenue, for instance.

The hope that all employers and workers take such an issue seriously is fuelled by the belief that enhancing occupational health and safety would make for a better quality of life for many. One should start focusing on employee protection through prevention, thus making safety a value. So as to start enhancing this fundamental concern, we should all begin by thinking safe!

Dr Borg is executive in EU and legal affairs, Malta Employers' Association, mea@maltanet.net