Fewer than half of registered workplace illegalities have been reported to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority so far this year, official figures show.
Less than 650 of the 1,420 workplace illegalities compiled by the National Statistics Office were also sent to the OHSA.
The information on workplaces which violated safety regulations was tabled in Parliament by Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli, following a request by MP Etienne Grech.
Dr Dalli explained the laws on workplace safety only required specific irregularities to be reported to the OHSA, with the rest being brought to the attention of other entities.
Shining a light on the serious nature of work place incidents, Dr Dalli said that while many of these often resulted in injury, there had already been seven workplace deaths this year.
Back in September the OHSA had urged the public to contact the authority on discovering workplace irregularities, rather than rush to upload it on social media.
For some people, the authority claimed, making a hit on Facebook was more important than avoiding tragedies.
The OHSA statement had been issued after Times of Malta had published photos of workers ignoring safety precautions on a construction site. The reader who sent them said he had phoned the authority but nothing appeared to have been done.
Reacting to this the authority had said it could not be present at all times, but inspectors made some 2,400 inspections at places of work between January and August this year. Most led to orders for remedial action. Almost half the inspections were on construction sites.
The authority can be contacted, anonymously, on any day of the week on 2124 7677. It promised to take immediate action on any reports it received.
More than 4,000 inspections are carried out on workplaces every year.
Speaking during the presentation of OHSA data in Parliament, Dr Dalli this week said that the OHSA was not responsible for safeguarding workers’ physical and psychological health at the workplace. Instead, this responsibility fell on the shoulders of whoever was responsible at law – mostly the employer.
In subsequent data tabled by Dr Dalli it transpired that the OHSA had last year also issued notice letters to 187 employers. The notices had instructed them to pay fines, following workplace irregularities, totalling €128, 470. Of these, she said, €115, 560 were paid.
Dr Dalli added that some 177 similar letters had also been sent to employers this year amounting to €82, 350. Some €61,350 had already been paid.
Unpaid fines, Dr Dalli concluded, were subject to legal action. Information on the amount of employers facing legal action was not provided.