In December 2014, Scotland was shocked by the news that a garbage disposal truck had ran over a number of pedestrians in Glasgow. In the wake of the disaster, it emerged that when asked about his health in medical assessment forms, as part of his job application, the truck driver had failed to disclose the fact that he regularly blacked out. The authorities issued a statement shortly after indicating that no one would be prosecuted because the driver had no obligation under the law to disclose his condition.
In March this year, the deliberate crashing of a Germanwings airliner by its co-pilot, killing 150 people, petrified people across the globe. The co-pilot had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies and been declared “unfit to work” by a doctor. However, he kept this information from his employer and reported for duty.
These two cases have something in common. Both the driver and the co-pilot suffered from certain conditions that disallowed them from performing their job but both irresponsibly chose to refrain from disclosing this fact to their employers. In both cases, innocent people were hurt or killed and, in both cases, rather ironically, the employer remained responsible for the tragedies.
Painful lessons were learnt from these two devastating incidents.
In both cases, the employer could not have taken preventive action because both individuals were protected by law from disclosing their medical conditions. After the Germanwings tragedy, the European Aviation Safety Agency issued recommendations for airlines to ensure at least two crew members, including one pilot, are in the cockpit during the entire duration of the flight. In Glasgow, GPs are now burdened with the duty to break patient confidentiality and report patients unfit to be behind the wheel.
Confidentiality is not absolute and common sense should prevail
The situation in Malta remains unchanged. People suffering from similar predicaments enjoy protection and are in no way obliged to inform their employers that they may not be fit to carry out their duties, possibly putting themselves and others in harm’s way.
The Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry believes that an individual’s right to choose whether to divulge any mental or physical disability to his or her employer is, at best, debatable and, at worst, not acceptable, because while most individuals are sensible, others may not realise that they pose a risk to others.
This situation should be reviewed also in the context within which any discussion on the implementation of the law obliging employers to recruit people with disability takes place. The Malta Chamber welcomes all measures that encourage the employment of people with a disability. As it has expressed in the past, the Chamber believes that every person has the right to a dignified and independent life. This also includes economic independence and employment is an important element in this equation.
The Chamber appreciates the measures taken by the ETC in trying to render the law more workable but it continues to insist that the authorities should have all obstacles to the implementation completely ironed out before proceeding with enforcing the law. It is pertinent to keep in mind that the law, as it stands, continues to present clear difficulties and dangers to employers and society at large.
It is to be made amply clear that the Chamber is all in favour of offering the rightful dignity to people with disabilities by facilitating their full integration into the workforce. At the same time, however, in view of their responsibilities at law, employers must not be deprived of crucial information about their employees because of data protection provisions or because the workers in question refuse to register officially as people with disabilities.
Proceeding with enforcement in a blind manner may, therefore, give rise to serious and undesirable consequences such as the incidents mentioned above. These can happen when staff members are given tasks that are inappropriate because the employee has a disability and is protected at law to hide such a crucial fact from his or her employer and the rest of society. The situation poses serious risks to the worker, to colleagues and to others.
A recent case in the UK led the General Medical Council to issue new guidelines to doctors. In the interest of protecting the public, GPs in the UK now have a duty to report patients who drive when they are unfit to do so.
The Malta Chamber believes that confidentiality is not absolute and the medical profession can play an important role in ensuring the safety of the wider public. Consequently, it believes similar common sense should prevail in Malta. It is more than confident that ironing out this important issue will lead to complete acceptance and cooperation by private employers.
This would lead, in turn, to the desired objectives of the law that was enacted in 1967, unsurprisingly without much success.
In Malta, we have a reputation for taking action only after disaster strikes. This is the time to act, before something unimaginable happens. The Malta Chamber will be foursquare behind the government and all involved parties in giving every member of society every opportunity for a dignified and independent life in a safe and sustainable manner.
Anton Borg is president of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.