Over 57,100 accidents at work were reported between 1992 and last year, Resources and Infrastructure Minister Francis Zammit said yesterday.

These accidents cost the government millions of liri in lost hours of work, not to mention the human suffering they entailed, he said.

Speaking during the launch of a health and safety policy document for the Works Division at the ministry in Floriana, Dr Zammit Dimech said that in 1992, 6,974 people had been injured, out of a population of 125,982 gainfully employed people, representing 5.5 per cent of the working population, while last year the number of accidents was 5,061 out of a working population of 137,496.

Last year`s accident figures, representing 3.7 per cent of the working population, marked a substantial drop in the number of people who suffered injury at work, which the minister said was due, among other things, to greater awareness among workers of the need to wear protective gear and clothing.

Educational campaigns promoting safety at work were another factor contributing to lower accident rates.

The staff complement at the Works Division was 4,000 out of whom 3,600 were in industrial grades.

In order to make workers even more aware of the importance of the dictum `safety first`, the ministry will be supplying each worker with a booklet containing a policy document on occupational health and safety.

The document is reproduced in English and Maltese. Apart from this document, each employee will sign two copies of a health and safety policy statement.

A copy of the statement countersigned by the director general of the Works Division will be kept by each worker while the second copy will be kept in the person`s file at the division.

"The statement signifies a commitment by the Works Division and each employee towards a greater commitment for health and safety," director general Vincent Cilia said.

Mr Cilia said that last year the division spent about Lm250,000 in providing equipment, especially for the drainage department.

This investment and the policy document on health and safety were taken in hand by the ministry following a tragedy on January 27, 2000, when three workers from the drainage department lost their lives after inhaling toxic gas while repairing a faulty valve in a cesspit at Cirkewwa.

Mr Cassar said the division would be spending about Lm60,000 annually to replenish and buy new equipment.

Representatives of the General Workers Union and Union Haddiema Maghqudin who were present during the launch said they had not been directly involved in the compilation of the policy document.

The two unions, however, had been asked to take part in a health and safety committee set up by the Works Division following the Cirkewwa fatalities.