Third of survey respondents not aware of health and safety legislation

30 per cent of respondents in a Union Haddiema Maghqudin survey are not aware of occupational health and safety legislation.

The UHM held its survey carried out the survey among its delegates at the workplace at the beginning of the year.

Only 55 per cent of respondents said that there was a health and safety official at the workplace with the public entities sector having the lowest representation of health and safety officials. In fact, 60 per cent of respondents from this sector said that no such representative was elected. The private sector had the highest number of occupational health and safety representatives.

A total of 13 per cent said that employers did not provide them with the protective clothing they required to work with.

Another 57 per cent said that they did not know who were the qualified first aiders at the workplace while another 31 per cent said they did not know where the first aid box was.

37 per cent of respondents said they were involved in an occupational accident. Of these, 73 per cent said they filed a report with their employers. However, an alarming 68 per cent said that no action was taken by their employers.

UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella said occupational health and safety was a priority for the union.

But, unfortunately, the subject was only raised to a national level when there was an accident. Mr Vella called for health and safety laws to be updated because the workplace changed over the years. The law had to take this into consideration.

The Occupational Health and Safety Inspectorate, Mr Vella said, should not only focus on an education campaign to inform employers of their duty but there should also be a substantial deterrent so that those who did not fulfil obligations would be penalised.

Health and safety laws should also apply to foreigners who worked in Malta, especially if they had a legal permit. He called for more commitment from the government to give health and safety the attention it truly needed.

Mr Vella said that union would use the survey results to create a stronger campaign for better occupational health and safety legislation.