Health and safety

I refer to the editorial about health and safety in the building industry (June 18).

For your information and that of the public, particularly building contractors and ancillary workers, new legal regulations came into force concerning the minimum health and safety requirements for work at construction sites, i.e. Legal Notice 281 of 2004 - Government Gazette (May 14).

Whether the code of practice for the building and construction industry issued in 1997 (published as a temporary measure though not legally binding) shall cease to remain in force or is still to be read and construed as one with these regulations is not yet clear.

However, both are very important instruments. In addition, Legal Notice 281 of 2004 Art. l (4) specifically states that "the provisions of the General Provisions for Health and Safety at Work Place Regulations (LN.36 of 2003) are fully applicable..." and "without prejudice to more stringent and, or specific provisions contained in the said LN 36 of 2003".

The provisions of these new regulations also apply to a non-exhaustive list of building and civil engineering works that are published in Schedule 1 which are noteworthy, viz: excavation, earthworks, construction, assembly and disassembly of prefabricated elements, conversion or filling out, alterations, renovation or restoring, repairs, dismantling, demolition, upkeep, maintenance-painting and cleaning work, drainage works etc.

Subsequent schedules in the said regulations include (a) work which put workers at risk of being buried under earth falls, (b) specific awareness to construction sites and (c) minimum requirements for on-site work stations, machinery etc.

In the same Government Gazette, LN 282 of 2004 specifies also the minimum health and safety requirements of general work equipment with particular emphasis on construction sites.

Finally, though building contractors are specifically and legally obliged to engage health and safety inspectors (excluding workers representatives/supervisors or first aiders), unless every site under construction is duly registered with the Health and Safety Authority (date of commencement) the principal law and all subsidiary legislation concerning particularly construction sites are not worth the paper they are printed on. This notwithstanding the fact that employers are not precluded from their responsibility and obligations for the safety of the workers in their employment.