Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1306840
3 NEWS 05.11.2020 New app promises to improve safety at construction sites AN innovative, app-based system be- ing rolled out today is expected to revo- lutionise health and safety practices on construction sites and help rebuild the industry's reputation through increased accountability. HSEQutive is the brainchild of Patrick Parnis, who after years of working in the industry, developed a cloud-based solu- tion to facilitate the health and safety inspection process, eliminate time spent writing reports after the inspection, and ensure robust monitoring and measur- ing mechanisms are in place to evaluate a construction site's overall safety perfor- mance. Parnis, founder of Parnis & Associates, said that although the industry has come a long way in accepting, implementing and enforcing health and safety regulations on construction sites, it was still facing com- mon and repetitive shortcomings, which if left undetected could lead to serious in- juries, and even fatalities. Speaking during the launch at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise, Parnis said he hoped that HSEQutive could be the driving force to change this situation and win back public confidence. Chamber president David Xuereb, who addressed the press conference, said the construction industry in Malta was in need of a serious dose of regulation and uplift in reputation. "It's refreshing and encouraging to see that industry leaders, such as Parnis & Associates, are bringing in years of expe- rience, knowledge, intelligence and tech- nology to Malta in an effort to efficient- ly and reliably assist serious developers, contractors and professionals improve their actions and decision-making on a construction site," he said. "Professional undertaking and digitali- sation of this industry is set to benefit all related and affected third parties in a safe and considerate manner." is paperless safety management sys- tem focuses on two modules. e first covers the inspection aspect, which in- troduces a standard, easy-to-use method to conduct health and safety compliance inspections, issue reports, and corrective action requests. e second module presents the 'dash- board' of data collection and graphical statistics where key performance indica- tors are set, including compliance levels on site, the number and severity of correc- tive action requests, the relative response time, and the top five areas of concern. e app will provide stakeholders with a real-time picture of their contractors' health and safety performance on their construction sites. It will also provide developers with a robust, transparent mechanism with accurate data to evaluate contractors' performance throughout the project and in determining who to engage for future projects. ese mechanisms provide a fair and transparent track record that can also be favourably used in court, ensuring more accountability. Patrick Parnis explaining how this innovative cloud-based solution works FROM PAGE 1 e MSCI World was at -5.34%, the MSCI Europe (excl. UK) -9.49%, the MSCI Emerging Markets -5.50% and the Malta Stock Exchange -13.19%. "Markets improved further at Sep- tember 2020 with the MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets moving into positive territory yet the Malta Stock Exchange Index deteriorated from -13.19% to -26.06%," Curmi said in a message on LinkedIn. "Clearly Maltese investors are silently suffering." Asked about the possible reasons be- hind the MSE Index's dismal perfor- mace, Curmi said a number of reasons stood out. Maltese investors should learn to di- versify their investments and not dump all their savings into one stock or bond, he said. Curmi said that this was linked to an- other shortcoming of the MSE Index: a lack of diverse offerings. "Maltese share listings are primarily tied to property, real estate or banks and finance houses," he said. "We lack the tech startups, comms companies, and tourism and holiday-related com- panies that one finds listed in all top stock exchange indeces worldwide." Unfortunately therein lies the prob- lem, in that while investors are hesitat- ing to keep dumping money into prop- erty shares and bonds, most companies are reluctant to float on the MSE when there was so little activity. Curmi believes many Maltese private investors have been disillusioned by this year's performce. "If you invested €100 before March this year in a local bank listed on the Stock Exchange, your investment is now worth around €70," he said. And to add insult to injury, banks had decided to postpone paying dividends this year, leaving investors with no re- turn whatsoever and their investment devalued considerably. BusinessToday spoke to a financial an- alyst, who agreed with Curmi's assess- ment, even going as far as to say that investments lost even up to 40% of their value since March this year. "Unfortunately, the gamut of local investment opportunities is what it is, and the situation has not been made any better with the issue of government bonds," the source said. In fact, government was currenly lim- iting bond issues to plans like the 62+ scheme. And because these are heavily over-subscribed, investors were quite limited into how much they could in- vest, and how often, in these bonds. Government also issues a number of bonds that are auctioned off to com- mercial investors. e lack of investment opportuni- ties, coupled with a general hesitancy to invest under the current conditions brought about by COVID-19 world- wide, left banks with surplus liquidity, that they could not easily transfer into loans or investment themselves. "is meant banks were depositing heavy cash quantities with the Central Bank or the European Central Bank, having to pay charges on that money," the analyst said. "ey instead turned to investing heavily in the block bonds auctioned by the government, leaving private inves- tors even less chance of investing their money." Lack of diverse offerings hindering MSE performance David Curmi, CEO of Mapfre MSV Life plc