Health & Safety on Gozo.

snafu

Only in Malta pmsl....

Since living here we have witnessed some horrendous H&S breaches from 12 year old standing on the top  a lorry while it was being loaded with rubble to a guy walking over the bell tower of Mellieha church carrying fireworks  for the festa!

We have seen a crane jib collapse (cable snapped) when it was being used to try to lift a complete roof off a hotel that was being refurbished and a mini digger working 4 floors up pushing rubble over the side of the hotel with men working below.
My favourite has to be the guy operating a remote tower crane lifting himself up by his belt to the top floor!

Failure to wear even the most basic of safety equipment is the norm.

I also watched them pour concrete in a torrential downpour when building the dome that later collapsed killing (I think)two workers at the Seabank hotel.

How the EU allows such flagrant breaches of the H&S I fail to understand and why no prosecutions by government?

Yes, it is pretty horrendous out here but seems to be the 'norm'.
Unfortunately I don't think there is any way accident rates can be compared between Malta and anywhere else as so few are officially reported or investigated. Could be interesting if we could because the indications could well be the opposite of what we would expect.
(Well for me it would be interesting.) and perhaps for anyone thinking of working in the construction industry out here.

Hi Redmik
That is horrendous
We've just come back from a holiday in Malta and we learned a lift engineer working in our hotel a week previous had been killed

http://maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails … s-20131025

Frenchman Atef Zarrouk, 43, was awarded €327,258.50 in damages after C&F Building Contractors Ltd, the construction company he worked for, was held responsible for an occupational incident that left him permanently disabled.

This case was from 1999!!
The wheels of justice certainly move slowly in Malta.

Just imagine the backlog if all H&S  breaches were reported!!

tearnet wrote:

This case was from 1999!!
The wheels of justice certainly move slowly in Malta.

Just imagine the backlog if all H&S  breaches were reported!!

I know, 14 years of suffering.