Staff in the planning authority office at Hexagon House in Marsa, which has been plagued by bad smells, will be told to return to work if a new ventilation system is installed, according to their trade unions.

Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s Professional Workers’ Union said they were ready to suspend directives issued to workers not to go to Hexagon House.

However, they first wanted assurances that the employees will no longer have to endure the nauseating smells.

The unions were reacting to a judicial protest filed by Mepa calling on the workers to return to their offices or they would be considered absent.

The authority said they had not been working from their offices since February 11, when the unions issued a directive telling them not to work at Hexagon House, because the building was a potentially unsafe working environment.

Mepa said independent experts had concluded over the past few days that there was no danger to health and safety, and therefore no reason for the workers to be absent.

Residents in the area and workers at Hexagon House have repeatedly complained of unbearable odours. Studies have confirmed that the source of the smells was petroleum.