Angelo Xuereb, president of the Federation of Building Contractors, gave the following address at the Building and Safety conference organised by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority on May 13 at the Trade Fair grounds, Naxxar:
In the past it was unfortunately not common for the views of building contractors to be heard in similar forums. This has led to many general misconceptions on the actual role of the building contractor, who very often takes the blame for many of the wrong doings, even if the blame should be assigned to others.
I must admit with satisfaction that since the formation of the BICC and more recently the foundation of the Federation of Building & Civil Engineering Contractors (FOBC), the shortcomings and needs of the construction industry have started to be attended to.
I say "started" because it is still a long way from covering all the shortcomings. The public is noticing that the BICC has taken the lead to raise awareness of global trends and shifting priorities to a better working environment. The BICC has been actively involved in securing a sustainable process aimed at ensuring that the industry's ideas are put forward in the planning process, keeping in mind that investment and development should not be hindered.
The construction industry plays a major role in Malta's economy and it is considered as a barometer of the local economy. Some statistics show that this industry employs around 7,000 workers and generates approximately 3% of the national GDP. I have my reservation on how correct these figures are since surveys are very limited and many associated trades and services may not be included. In fact some sources put employment in the construction industry at around 10,000 to 12,000 workers, which is around 8% of Malta's workforce.
If these figures are correct, then the construction industry is at par with the tourism industry when considering total employment, and construction surpasses tourism when looking at full-time employment only.
The construction industry's associated services start from the notary and lawyers who draft the contract for the purchase of the property up to the cleaner who hands over the property to the end users, who in turn generate further employment and generate more turnover to all furnishing and fittings providers.
Apart from the brick and mortar industry, it incorporates excavation contractors, road contractors, the marble and tile manufacturers as well as their layers, plasterers, electrical and mechanical contractors and their consultants, lift suppliers, woodwork, aluminium work, suspended ceiling contractors, waterproofing contractors, landscaping contractors, etc. plus numerous associated services providers, professionally we have MEPA, architects and engineers, legal consultants, insurance companies, etc.
I am sure you agree that all these generate well over 3% of our GDP. Whenever we experienced a slowdown in this industry, the effect would be reflected in the spending power of the housewife around a year later. For this reason, for many years, it has been considered as the barometer of the local economy. In this presentation I shall limit myself to the direct issues relating to the construction part, which is considered as a laborious employment and very prone to accidents.
For the past years administrations have not given the construction sector due attention and this industry has been the Cinderella of the other industries. There are a number of shortcomings in which the employers want to see changes so as to strengthen their accountability. I shall expand on this issue later on.
Considering the hard competition and the extremely low profit margins, the organised employer is giving due attention to the needs of the workers. Here we must say that many of the small building contractors do need to be made more aware of their responsibilities.
On the other hand, employees in general do not co-operate in health and safety aspects and there is the need for a more intense educational campaign. The fact that most of the employees do not belong to a trade union explains or gives one the impression that there is no unemployment problem, and that the employee feels no threats and would stick to his agenda or just change his employment without difficulty.
Health and safety aspects at building sites
It is a known fact that the construction industry accounts for a high percentage of occupational accidents worldwide.
Eurostat statistics show that 13 fatalities occur per 100,000 employees in the construction sector (as against five per 100,000 in the all-sector on average).
Our islands are no exception. Available statistics show that while during 2001 and 2002 the construction sector accounted for just over 10% of the total occupational accidents, during 2003 this shot up to 16.6%, while between January and March of this year it stood at 15.8%, which is considered very high.
One has to verify which trades are included in these figures. Some surveys include associated trades like electrical and mechanical trades, carpentry, etc. as a part of the construction, and others do not.
Surveys in this industry are very limited and therefore can easily lead to a misinterpretation of reality. When one compares the trend, other considerations should be included, like the activity volume of other industries. In a small country like ours these percentages can make a big difference. I will indicate which areas are prone to accidents and what action can be taken to minimise the risks.
While all types of accidents should be considered as serious and are to be given due attention, most of the fatal accidents occur while lifting of goods and because of inappropriate scaffolding. In our country we have an additional risk. This relates to the demolishing of old houses that are roofed with stone slabs known as xorok. The danger is high since once one row of xorok is removed or broken, the rest tends to give in very quickly and can easily have a ripple fall of all the floors below.
Until only a few years back, safety protections were almost inexistent in construction, but recently this took off, thanks to public awareness especially by the OHSA and BICC and to the fact that certain responsible developers insisted to include a sum in their preliminary items towards the adherence to health and safety precautions by contractors.
When these regulations are followed up by regular inspection and enforcements when necessary, the number of accidents is reduced.
One of the contractors' dilemmas is when they provide all the necessary health and safety wear for use by workers, like safety helmets, safety shoes, gloves, harnesses, ear mufflers, etc. the workers try to avoid using them.
In many cases, one has to continue insisting with employees to wear them, and in certain instances we even would have to impose a small fine for each offence. In case of a major occupational accident or, even worse, a fatal accident, it is a trauma for the employer and his fellow workers.
Minimising occupational accidents
The health and safety record of construction remains the most contentious. It is amply acknowledged that the industry must therefore provide decent, safe working conditions and improve management and supervisory skills at all levels.
The first simple requirement that comes to mind would be to wear health and safety precautions. But on detailed analysis, it is clear that lack of safety gear is not the main cause. It all has to start from the architects or engineers who draft tender documents. Architects play a major role at this stage, since they would be acting as the technical consultant of the developer.
Here I would ask you to make a distinction between a developer and a contractor. Developers are those who come up with the project, raise the finance and then appoint a building contractor to construct the building according to their specifications and conditions.
Developers should appoint a proper project management team which will respect health and safety issues. They need to include specific preliminary items in the tender which should be pre-priced, or alternatively allocate a sum specifically for each of the preliminary items. These items normally includes health and safety, insurance, security on site, hoarding or fencing, illumination, sanitary facilities, first aid facility, site cleanliness, etc.
Very often developers consider these as extra costs and instruct the appointed architect or engineer to eliminate these items. In other instances when these items are not pre-priced, some bidders just cross them out from the Bill of Quantities as if these are included in the Bill rates, while other serious bidders price them accordingly and probably end up being uncompetitive and lose the contract.
This is unfair and unprofessional, since certain contractors get to know beforehand if the developer or the architect intend to enforce these conditions to the letter. If these contractors get the information that these are just for formality reasons, these end up being competitive and get the contract while the professional contractor ends up losing the job. Competition should and must be on rates, capabilities, and past performance of the contractors and not on the preliminary items.
Competition is very stiff and standard rates cannot absorb these real costs. The temptation by developers to cut their project costs is there, and therefore the architect or engineer must use their influence to pre-price these preliminary items and then they will have more power to enforce them. In line with these views, the competent authorities should see that these items are included before awards are made and then they could enforce the expenditure to safeguard workers' health.
I am not saying that contractors would not take health and safety precautions, but the authorities and architects can have a tool to better enforce these regulations. Now that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) is enforcing the newly approved law, the OHSA should also lobby with the architects and the government to include these health and safety requirements.
We need to have a concerted effort between all parties to identify the main reasons for defaulting, see how these can be mitigated and draw up a plan of action where each entity shoulders its responsibility. These conditions have to be enforced in phases and applicable to all, including government departments. Government should give an example and change the outdated standard form of contracts.
We need to put more emphasis on training, and awareness among employers and employees. There has been progress in awareness on health and safety issues but, no doubt, more remains to be done. The health and safety precautions and enforcement will bring a major change to the construction industry attitudes and therefore we require constant training and awareness especially in the initial years.
Does this industry need updating?
The construction part of this industry is split into two sectors - the concrete sector and the other of stone building work. While we have seen great advances in the modernisation of the concrete sector over the past ten years, we have seen little advancement in the stone work sector.
In the concrete sector we have seen modern type of formwork which reduces the hardship and reduces accident risks, at the same time offering a much more accurate and neat finish. We have seen proper scaffolding replacing the shabby unstable contraptions, more tower-cranes with a better reach replacing the mobile cranes, the introduction of a number of pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete factories which produce concrete elements under a more controlled environment. Some of these factories manufacture under ISO9000 certificates. In short the quality in this sector has reached more or less international standards on large organised projects.
The stonework sector unfortunately has seen very little progress since electric cutting saws were introduced in our quarries in 1952! The handling of this stone is still very laborious and very few youngsters are willing to join this sector. I cannot think of any other country, including third world countries, where workers have to lift 70 kg, or more, on their shoulders on a daily basis!
The main changes were using larger trucks, lifting the blocks by a crane to each floor level, and the electric cutting saw on site. Within the quarries, the process is more or less the same as 50 years ago, very laborious and very few Maltese want to work exposed to the extreme climatic conditions. Trucks still climb the steep and dangerous ramps from the quarries. The noise pollution is another element of nuisance.
Unless a radical change is implemented in the stonework sector in the short term, I cannot see how the OHSA can enforce these laws and regulations. Furthermore, Malta has just joined the EU. Do EU regulations allow a worker to lift more than 25 kg as part of his normal work?
I have written various articles since 1990 in this respect, presenting various proposals to minimise risks and make this sector more environmentally and userfriendly. But it seems that we have the tendency to act only when we are faced with a brick wall which forces us to act instantly.
The standard stone-block measurements need to be reduced to a maximum weight of 25 kg. The stone cutting machines within quarries should be modernised to cut semi-automatically and pack the stones (stone-block) onto pallets by means of special fork lifters. Pallets should contain only good quality stone blocks nicely dressed and secured to the pallet. Lifting of the pallets onto a trailer should be done from the quarries by means of a gantry crane.
The fine stone dust known as xahx should be screened at the quarries and transported into jumbo bags for large projects or smaller bags for smaller sites.
To reduce pollution and waste on the building sites, it is better to pay more and receive a good product rather than higher prices for an inferior product. All these proposed improvements will reduce labour, be more user-friendly, create cleaner construction sites and more importantly, create less risks for workers.
We need to have a common front to tackle the current issues so as not to lose this trade which has bequeathed a stone legacy to our islands. In the near future this stone sector will have no other option but to reduce its laborious way of handling the stone. We shall be making more use of stone cladding over concrete block-work instead of using the present stone blocks. This will offer a great improvement in all aspects while retaining the local stone architectural features.
The fate of this important industry depends on a clear commitment - a commitment from the construction industry to work with its clients to deliver significant performance improvements that are possible, and a commitment from Government to entice participation and fulfil the responsibility to sustain the environment needed to enable dramatic improvements in construction performance, with the active involvement of the private sector.
To have a clearer position on how this volatile industry is performing, we require a more accurate survey with the direct involvement of the various types of contractors and this can lead us to a trend survey.
This industry was so neglected by various administrations, that believe it or not, for a building contractor handling millions of liri and human lives in the process, no licence is required, but a hawker selling peanuts in the street requires a licence!
Contractors should be classified or pre-qualified for their abilities before a tender is issued. This would be a move in the right direction, since a contractor would be licenced according to his past performance, equipment, work force, organisation set-up, etc. It would still be the client's decision to choose his contractor but at least one would know the contractor's abilities.
As expected, then, the better qualified contractor might have higher rates but the client would be expecting a better product. Standard form of contracts would also have to be adopted, based on the FIDIC or JCT form of contracts. These are considered to be fair for both client and contractor.
From the educational aspect, MCAST and the University have to have a more direct link to the industry so as to produce the necessary skills and qualified students rather than concentrating on the traditional courses for architects and engineers.
The industry is in need of qualified project managers, site supervisors, quality controllers, road engineers, landscape architects, more quantity surveyors, health and safety officers, and specialised lawyers who would be familiar with the FIDIC or JCT standard form of contracts. The industry also needs qualified skilled formwork erectors, skilled steel fixers, skilled tile layers, skilled plasterers, mechanics, qualified tower-crane operators, etc.
What I have presented is the reality of this industry and the views of many established contractors. The FOBC, with its representation on the BICC council and FOI council, is committed to continue to strive for their requests to be heard and action taken to solve the problems that arise. We do hope that the decision-makers will take action and do something to solve existing problems. We believe that action moves faster than words.
The construction industry is passing through a phase of change and with determination, established contractors are accountable and committed to improve this industry vital to the country's economy. We need a concerted effort from the government, authorities, employers, unions and employees to achieve a more sustainable construction industry.
We have a long way to go to get the whole industry in order, but as the saying goes "Where there is a will there is a way", the will from FOBC is there, let's hope together we shall find the way.