A lacuna in the law may be putting public health and safety at leisure establishments at risk as there is no monitoring body to ensure standards are maintained.
This emerged after The Sunday Times of Malta sought to identify which authority is responsible for ensuring public health and safety standards at leisure venues, especially ones targeting children.
Last Thursday, a three-year-old girl was slightly injured at the Splash and Fun Park at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq when she fell from a walkway with no rail.
The management said that immediate action was taken to install railings as soon as it became aware of the danger.
However, attempts to identify the authority responsible for monitoring public safety at permanent leisure venues such as Splash and Fun Park yielded no results despite the newspaper speaking to five different authorities.
We do take our safety standards seriously
The law relating to places of entertainment refers to a Health and Safety Monitoring Board appointed by the Home Affairs Ministry.
It states: “The board shall have the right to regularly monitor all places of entertainment to ascertain that health, noise levels and safety conditions meet satisfactory standards and for such purpose shall have the right to inspect any place of entertainment or concert venue at any time.”
But the ministry said the Splash and Fun complex does not fall within the remit of this board since “places of entertainment” are defined within the law as venues in which people under 17 are not allowed to enter, such as clubs.
Police sources said officers would normally get involved if the police were asked by an authority, such as the planning authority, to act on a breach of conditions subject to court proceedings. If an injury occurs, the police could also conduct investigations as they are doing in the case of the three-year old girl.
But when it comes to preventing injuries through regular monitoring of health and safety conditions for consumers at permanent leisure and entertainment venues, there seems to be a gap in enforcement.
The Sunday Times of Malta also contacted the Occupational Health and Safety Authority to ask whether it was concerned with public safety, but the authority said it only dealt with workers.
The Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority said its remit was limited to products. The authority looked at the Splash and Fun Park incident but since it did not involve the consumption of products, their involvement was not required.
Meanwhile, the planning authority said it was the responsibility of the operator to make certain all areas within the establishment are safe. This has prompted safety concerns since no identifiable authority is responsible for regular monitoring and enforcement of leisure and entertainment venues.
Patrick Vella, director of Leisure and Theme Park Ltd that operates Splash and Fun, said the management conducts regular controls to ensure public safety. It did this through commissioning experts in the field, and the recruitment of staff with years of experience at similar venues.
“Thousands of people come here and we are prone to certain incidents like other venues. We do take our precautions. We do take our safety standards seriously – in winter we had people from abroad doing inspections and making recommendations on things that needed to be done and we did them.
“We have our own companies that check on risk and assess the situation and this is done on our own initiative,” Mr Vella said.
He said the health department does take action on complaints made by the public. But he pointed out there is “no manual” by the authorities on how to manage a water park. Management follows international regulations on such operations to maintain standards.
In addition, he said, authorities sometimes change laws without advance warning and without informing the operators, while the changes are applied with immediate effect.