The health and safety watchdog inspected 1,000 workplaces in the first six months of this year, demanding remedial action most of the time.
The Occupational Health and Safety Authority said yesterday that, following a number of contraventions, it issued 91 notifications of administrative fines and appointed 103 court cases.
Legal regulations that came into force in 2012 allow the OHSA to hand down fines as a penalty for a list of safety infringements. A person can be fined a number of times through a single notification and, in the first half of this year, fines imposed ranged between €250 and €1,456, totalling €60,000.
If fines are not paid within 15 days and the safety issues are not tackled, legal procedures are initiated in court.
The majority of the infringements were committed by the construction sector
Between January and June, the “vast majority” of infringements, which included fines and court cases, were committed by the construction sector.
No figures are available at the moment, the regulator said when contacted, but it was noted that the most common infringement was failing to appoint a project supervisor.
The risk of falls from height was a “common” health and safety problem with potentially dangerous or fatal repercussions. Certain shortcomings noted during inspections and on which legal action was taken were related to basic occupational health and safety requirements. These include lack of a risk assessment of all hazards at work or keeping a copy of such evaluation and failing to safeguard the health and safety of workers. Some employers even failed to provide adequate protective equipment when necessary and to follow the OHSA’s orders.
The health and safety watchdog warned about legal requirements related to equipment. One important measure is the proper use of protective guards around mobile parts of machinery, such as blades. A number of accidents result when such guards are removed either because of carelessness or to speed up work. Such accidents at times end up in permanent disabilities.
More information on www.ohsa.org.mt.