Call to enforce safety measures at building sites

The Labour Party's spokesman on public works and construction, Charles Buhagiar, yesterday urged the government to pay special attention to safety at construction sites and to enforce the necessary measures to avoid fatalities.

Speaking in the wake of the death of two workers at a construction site in Hamrun last Tuesday and other construction-related incidents, Mr Buhagiar said deaths and injuries indicated that neither the authorities nor the stakeholders in the construction industry were paying enough attention to safety.

Nowadays, when buildings were being constructed on a larger scale and were more complex than at other times, one expected the authorities to legislate and enforce regulations to minimise risks.

Structures to ensure this had been set up by the former Labour Administration while the Occupational Health and Safety Authority's role was to monitor that regulations are observed, he said.