So many want the perks of a top job… but not the accountability

“Jean Paul Sofia died in an essentially unregulated construction site and the state must bear responsibility for that.” 

This, in a nutshell, was the conclusion of the long-awaited public inquiry into the death of the 20-year-old who was tragically at the wrong place at the wrong time on that fateful day in December 2022. 

Covering a staggering 484 pages, the report lays the blame squarely on those in charge, and so it should, because ultimately it is the authorities who are giving permits for so many haphazard building projects, who are to blame. 

And yet, even as I write this, the reactions from those who are being forced to shoulder responsibility is shameful. Four people have resigned to date, while one was sacked and yet the recurring refrain from several of the top honchos seems to be “it wasn’t me” and “I wasn’t present”. 

Even if, for the sake of argument, someone was not present when this crucial decision was taken, surely it is in your own interest to review any decisions taken in your absence and question or raise any concerns you might have, which are then minuted? After all, these are boards where very important (and potentially crucial) decisions are taken, not some small committee run by volunteers, involving a harmless hobby.   

What is actually the point of all these acronyms, OHSA, BCA, INDIS, and the rest, if, every time someone dies at a construction site, the immediate knee-jerk reaction is to brush off any accountability? 

Purely from my own observations, the impression I get from these committees and authorities is that they are there to rubber-stamp certain projects (according to whom the applicant is, of course) and permits sail through like a breeze. Us mere mortals, on the other hand, who sometimes need innocuous permits or applications to be approved by the various authorities, are forced to sweat blood and are left hanging sadistically as some anonymous pencil pusher deliberately stalls your application, just to see you squirm. 

But then a newly formed company like All Plus Ltd waltzes along, with just five months of experience in the furniture sector, and is basically handed government land to develop their new five-storey factory by the Malta Enterprise investment committee. It’s alright for some, huh? 

At each stage of this whole process which led to Sofia’s untimely death when the building collapsed, there was a blatant disregard for regulations, rules or ongoing inspections. One of the most glaring and shocking revelations has been that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority simply does not have enough inspectors – and unbelievably, the former head of this authority Mark Gauci actually testified that even if they had inspected this particular site, OHSA inspectors “were not qualified to assess construction standards.” 

As the report quite rightly points out, “If OHSA inspectors aren't able to identify when people on a construction site are in danger, then we honestly don't know what the scope of these inspections is”. 

On reading this my thoughts flew not only to all the construction sites we see around us (which, in my mind’s eye, are now potential death traps just seconds away from total collapse) but also to the hapless first-time buyers forking out good money to get on the property ladder for these flimsy apartments. The developments are mushrooming overnight; flats are built at lightning speed where one minute you just see a pile of rubble and suddenly the whole block is ready. Construction workers of foreign nationality continue to fall off these sites with such regularity that (to our shame) we no longer consider it headline news. 

Of course, no one is inspecting all these sites on a regular basis, how could they possibly do so?  You would need a swarm of hundreds of inspectors to even begin doing the job properly. But we are told that there was not even an attempt to hire more inspectors, while over €1 million is sitting in the OHSA bank account.  

As for enforcement officers, according to testimony by the Chairman David Xuereb, there were only 14 employed with the OHSA who are responsible for enforcing health and safety in every industry and workplace on the island. He claimed the authority had requested a larger budget to employ more officers but was refused (and yet, oddly enough, there always seems to be plenty of cash to pay all these chairmen a hefty salary). 

As if to confirm what a jungle it is out there, Mr Gauci in his testimony acknowledged that workplace accidents that result in near-misses can go entirely unreported, as the OHSA is only alerted to an incident once a claim is filed with the department of social security. Can we be more ridiculous? Can we be more inhumane and heartless?  

When it comes to foreign nationals, the inquiry did not hold back either: “TCN’s working in construction not only do not have a skill card but are almost unable to speak English that is understandable. Their entry into Malta is without practical and real control because Jobsplus rests almost exclusively on what the employer declares in terms of competence and skills possessed by the prospective employee… the impression the [inquiry] board got of Jobsplus’s management of TCNs is one of abject failure.” 

The answer to this criticism has been a reshuffle with JobsPlus being removed from Finance Minister Clyde Caruana’s portfolio and handed to Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri instead. The reason is to ostensibly strengthen the co-ordination between government departments. How this is supposed to happen is anyone’s guess; in my own experience dealing with several (not all) government entities even on mundane issues, there is such a pathetic lack of co-ordination that it is clear they do not communicate with one another and certain data is not centralised at all. It should not be rocket science but in so many instances you realise that information is not being updated or shared, and you have to painstakingly start from scratch, even re-submitting the same documents, whenever you need something to be sorted out.   

Extending this disorganisation, incompetence, cumbersome bureaucracy (where each authority blames the other) and the general laxness in enforcing regulations to the sensitive area of development permits and construction, are we that surprised that what happened to Jean Paul Sofia was described as a tragic comedy of errors? 

Reading through the board’s recommendations on the way forward, most of them are aspects which (one would think) are already in place such as a method statement, insurance and health and safety.  However, one of the most glaring indictments was entitled ‘vetting’: “People employed by the BCA (Building and Construction Authority) to carry out vetting of method statements, should be covered by a professional indemnity insurance provided by the authority. Vetting should be carried out by experienced architects and not people who lack qualifications or who are clerks.” 

Are we surprised there are so many construction site accidents when those who are supposed to be overseeing the industry are completely out of their depth? To be honest, when I read such reports and when I see the precarious way workers still dangle from construction sites without any safety gear, I am surprised we do not have even more terrible fatal accidents than we already have.