A 31-year-old construction worker was critically injured yesterday, triggering a trade unionist to launch a scathing attack on the government accusing it of not strengthening health and safety legislation.

The Siġġiewi man was working on a construction site in Marsaxlokk when he fell three storeys. He was rushed to hospital and found to be in critical condition.

A magisterial inquiry is underway. The accident yesterday comes in the wake of two deaths on the workplace in the span of five days last month. On January 13, a 37-year-old cargo handler died crushed under a sheet of glass weighing almost two tonnes. A few days later, on January 17, a 54-year-old man died after falling from the third floor of a building in Rabat.

The Marsaxlokk accident triggered an angry response from Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin general secretary Gejtu Vella who asked whether the government was even interested in doing something to stem accidents at work.

Mr Vella said that back in November 2007 the government had agreed to increase workplace inspections and take measures to change and strengthen the law.

However, two days ago the union received a letter from Social Policy Minister John Dalli saying the Occupational Health And Safety Authority was still working on a draft to amend the law.

"What happened since November 2007? The authorities have either put it on the backburner or do not have the social conscience to do anything about it," he said.

The union wants to raise the issue during a meeting of the MCESD.

No reply was forthcoming from the Social Policy Ministry, which was asked what the authorities were doing to increase health and safety at work considering last month's two fatalities and yesterday's accident.