Construct Furniture director John Agius faced criminal charges in 2013 over the injury of a 16-year-old employee, making the death of Matthew Bartolo last year the second incident at the company allegedly due to lax health and safety procedures.
Court documents show Mr Agius was accused of failing to observe health and safety regulations resulting in the injury of Gareth Galdes.
He was also accused of failing to observe the health and safety of his employees and to take the necessary measures to protect them from risk, particularly Mr Galdes.
This is the second incident noted where the director of Construct Furniture is being accused of causing injury to employees. Last week, this newspaper reported that following a magisterial inquiry he was expected to face criminal charges for involuntary homicide over the death of Mr Bartolo, 17, last year.
Mr Agius’s daughter, Amanda Cefai, and her husband James – a foreman at the company – will face the same criminal charges, legal sources have confirmed.
Matthew Bartolo, from Kirkop, died just over a year ago – on June 4, 2015 – when he was operating a woodworking machine used to manufacture doors at Construct Furniture premises.
The victim’s signature was forged after his death
He became trapped in the machine, which claimed his life, following the company’s failure to follow health and safety procedures, the charges are expected to state.
Apart from the failure to observe health and safety regulations, which the inquiry by Magistrate Joseph Mifsud concluded led to his death, the accused will also face charges for forging Mr Bartolo’s signature after his death.
Sources said the inquiring magistrate, Joseph Mifsud, had noted that Mr Bartolo’s signature on training sheets presented by the company as evidence may have been forged. The training sheets were meant to show that the employee had received the necessary training to work on the machine.
Construct Furniture was in the headlines at the start of the year when Prime Minister Joseph Muscat included a visit to Fernando Agius (son of John) and his wife in their kitchen in his New Year’s promo video to the nation.
Following the revelation of the charges to be faced by the director and management of Construct Furniture, Mr Agius filed an application last Tuesday asking the courts to order the Police Commissioner to investigate who informed The Sunday Times of Malta that they would be facing criminal charges.
The defendants asked the court to take the necessary steps regarding whoever passed the information to this newspaper including ordering the Police Commissioner to investigate how the inquiry or parts of it were leaked.