House focuses on health and safety

The House of Representatives yesterday approved the financial estimates of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.

Education and Labour Minister Louis Galea said Malta had a modern health and safety legislative structure complemented by an authority which was well geared to enforce the law. The authority has a budget of Lm336,000.

Dr Galea said the authority had carried out a considerable amount of valuable work, particularly in the promotion of safety awareness and inspection of work places.

There had been progress in awareness on health and safety issues but, no doubt, more remained to be done. Emphasis on this area was also being made among the young in schools.

There was also need, however, for employers and the workers themselves to increasingly shoulder their responsibilities.

The minister went over the work done by the authority, including the publication of a raft of regulations on the health risks of different places of work. He said the authority was working with the Building Industry Consultative Council on safety at construction sites. It was also working in line with international agreements on major hazards, such as the Seveso Directive.

He said courses were being held for health inspectors so that the authority could further improve its inspectorate. The authority required more expertise, human resources, research and technology but even when its complement was complete, health and safety, ultimately, still depended on precautions taken by employers and workers.

Dr Galea said the European Commission had carried out inspections in Malta and praised the legislative infrastructure here.

Opposition spokesman Marie-Louise Coleiro called for greater political will in this sector. It was not good enough to have a legislative structure which was at par with the EU when EU figures showed that, in practice, standards were low. What was important was implementation and application.

She observed that the financial estimates of the authority had been reduced. Was this serious when even the minister admitted that a lot still had to be done in this sector, including the authority's own structure?

There were 45,413 places of work but the authority still had only 18 health and safety officers. Just over 500 visits were carried out at places of work last year. Would those following the safety course at the university be employed by the authority?

In 2003 only Lm206 were spent on staff training. What type of training and re-training had been carried out?

What kind of coordination did the authority have with Mepa, which could issue permits which went against occupational health and safety? What, in practice, was the authority doing in line with the Seveso directive?

What follow-up studies had the authority done on musco-skeletal disorders, of which repetitive strain injuries formed part? 308 women, mainly machine operators, had been interviewed in Malta and 70 per cent of them were found to have such injuries, a higher rate than, say, the UK, where the people interviewed did not work on just one part of a garment, for example, but on the whole garment.

Although awareness on health and safety may have risen, results needed to improve. In 2003, there were 12 fatalities, the highest since 1989. What was happening?

The number of workplace injuries since 1994 had remained more or less unchanged. Why wasn't any headway being made? Why had injuries in the construction industry risen by six per cent? And what sort of injuries were caused in the wholesale and retail trade, where accidents were up by three per cent?

Fewer people were applying for injury benefits. How come? There were people who even refused to report their injuries for fear they would lose their job. That was why it was important for one to investigate.

Certain specialists certified people well for work despite major injuries. One would later find such doctors had a conflict of interest. Doctors, even at state hospitals, should declare their interest. The authority should react to certain situations.

Ms Coleiro asked what had become of the 10-year strategic plan which was to have been prepared?

Was the authority working with Sedqa on drug-taking in work places and on cases of bullying?

Near the end of her speech Ms Coleiro said the authority needed to push for improvement in the way inquiries were conducted after serious accidents and for compensation to be paid out expeditiously so that victims' families would not suffer financial hardship as well as their loss.

Nationalist MP Joe Falzon said that according to NSO statistics, 50 per cent of reported accidents were in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

All this underlined the need for proper training. This applied particularly to areas such as the demolition of buildings, which was far more delicate than actual construction.

Both workers and employers had to invest in the sector. Some employers provided safety equipment but workers did not use it; other employers provided no equipment at all.

Mepa, he said, should ensure that there were construction management reports on sites of a certain size.

Winding up, Dr Galea said the government was showing it was not complacent in the area of occupational health and safety. Its commitment was evidenced by the legislative infrastructure now in place.

But, he stressed, it was primarily employers who were responsible for safety at the work place, as well as the workers themselves. The authority's main role was safety awareness. However, he agreed that the government as an employer was still not doing enough to ensure there were high standards in all sectors.

It was true that drugs and alcohol influenced workers' health but what was being debated was what was directly related to one's place of work. One should not shift responsibilities because rather than contributing to the improvement of the sector one would be mixing up responsibilities.

The authority's primary responsibilities were to promote, educate and raise awareness. It also had to see that rules and regulations were observed.

Dr Galea denied that funding for the authority had been reduced, saying that last year's budget included funding dedicated to the national plan for the implementation of the acquis.

The authority, he said, did not intend employing all those following university training in safety since it was also the duty of employers to employ persons who were trained in the sector.

Dr Galea said there were 1,200 fewer accidents in 2002 than in 2001, in spite of the fact that a wider definition for injuries was used. He augured that such progress would continue and be accelerated.

He said that if there were cases of medical specialists with conflict of interest and the authority knew about them, it would take steps, as would the Medical Council.

The estimates were approved after a division, with 27 in favour and 21 against.

Accidents in the construction industry have risen by six per cent, Labour MP Marie-Louise Coleiro observed in parliament yesterday.