Developers said today they were being burdened with all the legal responsibility of ensuring safe working conditions for construction employees.
Addressing a training seminar on safety at construction sites, organised by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, Malta Developers Association vice-president Sandro Chetcuti insisted developers could no longer be expected to shoulder all the responsibility of employees.
“What can an employer do to ensure full safety if his employees are not adequately trained or licenced,” he asked.
OHSA CEO Mark Gauci said the laws regulating the industry were based on EU directives.
He urged developers to fall in line with regulations to ensure uniformity in safety standards
“The legal situation is what it is. Let’s find a way to make it work.”
More accidents happen on Arriva than on building sites- Sandro Chetcuti
M Chetcuti said the growing prejudice against developers was down to “a few bad apples.
“It’s not fair that a few bullies give everyone a bad name. We have built an empire here, some of the best hotels in Europe and beautiful building.”
He appealed to the OHSA to work hand in hand with developers to find an amicable solution. He said: “none of us want to see our workers hurt. We want to cooperate with the authorities but we need solutions not deterrents.”
He pointed out that while the share of construction industry accidents last year amounted to 14.4 per cent, manufacturing incidents had a share of 23.2 per cent.
Mr Chetcuti said that the media was also to blame for over emphasising the accidents “and unfortunate incidents” that occurred on construction sites.
“More accidents happen on Arriva than on building sites,” he said.
OHSA principle officer Kevin Gauci said that prevention of incidents also depended on proper use of equipment. He referred to an incident on a building site earlier this year where authority inspectors witnessed a 12-year-old boy operating a mobile crane unit when the standard practice was for crane drivers to be over 21.
“Too many workers have to shout to communicate on building sites. They are not being given the adequate tools to ensure full safety.”
Construction magnate Angelo Xuereb said that not enough training was being offered to construction workers. He suggested that all tradesmen should be licenced to work on construction sites as the majority of accidents were the workers’ fault. However, developers were held responsible for these incidents.
He pointed out that the situation over the past 20 years had improved but workers often still faced precarious working conditions.
Federation of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors council member Jason Paul Vella said that problems facing contractors included the balancing between incurring extra expenses and meeting contractual obligations.
He pointed out that among the challenges facing contractors was the understandable hesitation of workers to wear safety equipment on site in summer.
OHSA chairman Deo Debattista said the drafting of a health and safety plan should be an integral part of the planning stage of any development. He said that this was not being done enough.
The drafting of such a plan, he said, was a legal obligation, which too few were meeting. He sympathised with developers pointing out that shortcomings often resulted from “unreasonable pressures from clients to minimise the price of a development but pointed out that two thirds of incidents at the workplace resulted from decisions taken in the first stage of planning.
Adherence to the legal obligations, he said, could be increased through minimising the bureaucratic obstacles facing developers.