Occupational health and safety measures are "completely lacking" in government hospitals as little is done to ensure staff is taught how to prevent injuries at work, according to the nurses' union.

Given this scenario, the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses called on the government to implement occupational health and safety measures in hospitals according to EU regulations, union president Paul Pace said. While the facilities at Mater Dei were better than those available at St Luke's Hospital, the health and safety services remained lacking, he said.

Mr Pace explained that the hospital had a workforce of about 4,000 people, a third of who were midwives and nurses. Although it had a section labelled as the occupational health unit, this was an empty section.

There was an OHS officer who was not medically trained and was mainly concerned with issues such as fire safety, he added. An OHS officer within a hospital had to be aware of potential health treats particular to people who worked in the medical environment.

For example, he said, back and neck injuries were the most common among nurses since they had to handle heavy patients and equipment. Teaching them the safest manner to handle people could prevent injuries.

Other health problems nurses faced included illnesses caught from patients, injuries by angry patients or their relatives, and mental health problems such as trauma.

"Undue and totally avoidable exposure to carcinogenic and corrosive chemicals is still the norm and expensive safety equipment bought by taxpayers' money is not in use out of ignorance. On the other end of the scale, safety equipment which should also have been in place from day one... has not been acquired," Mr Pace said.

He added that laser equipment, used frequently, was being operated without prior training and nurses were not provided with safety equipment when they went out in an ambulance that sometimes headed to dangerous accident sites.

When nurses fell ill at work, they had to queue up in Casualty to be visited by the doctor on duty to be certified sick.