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5 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 27 APRIL 2016 News - THREE SPECTACULAR COLOURFUL NIGHTS - MARSAXLOKK SATURDAY 16.04.2016 GOZO SATURDAY 23.04.2016 VALLETTA SATURDAY 30.04.2016 OHSA lax on construction site inspections, workers' safety study shows MAT THEW VELLA THE National Audit Office has expressed reservations on the Occupational Health and Safety Authority's practice of not car- rying out exhaustive inspection visits at construction sites. This concern, part of a study released by the NAO, is further compounded by the fact that there is no rigid and compre- hensive system to assess the competence of project super- visors assigned to make sure health and safety rules are ob- served. Workers engaged in the lo- cal construction industry are the most at risk of suffering occupational accidents when compared to others working in other industrial sectors. A statistical analysis by the NAO tested the number of hours worked, weather varia- bles and age of workers, to study the effects they had on the risk of an occupational accident within the construction indus- try. Results showed that only heat is strongly correlated with the occurrence of occupational accidents in the construction industry, which factor explains 31.5% variability in accident rates. The NAO said in its study that there was cultural disregard to occupational health and safety (OHS) and regulatory slack that could only explain the remain- ing 68.5% of the variability in accident rates. "While OHSA's educational functions are commended, the authority should tighten and step-up its regulatory function through a thorough change in its operational philosophy, par- ticularly by adopting a more pro-active and meticulous monitoring system together with stronger enforcement. This is key to addressing a local cultural disregard to OHS," the NAO said. The OHSA does not even have a comprehensive electronic data system that keeps its infor- mation in a fragmented man- ner. "This, in NAO's opinion, cre- ates gaps in the authority's knowledge base with negative repercussions to its operational processes. Through the current construction notification sys- tem, OHSA only has the poten- tial visibility on projects which exceed a set threshold in terms of duration of works and num- ber of workers deployed simul- taneously." Apart from the fact that com- pliance to the current notifica- tion obligation is not compre- hensively registered by the local industry, the NAO said that this set standard restricted OHSA's information base, particularly as the local scenario may sig- nificantly feature smaller scale projects. The NAO also found dis- proportionality between the fines imposed for occupational health and safety breaches and the significantly higher costs attributed to the implementa- tion of adequate OHS measures "The level of permissible fi- nancial penalties, both in the form of administrative fines as well as the minimum imposable fines should a case be taken to the Courts of Justice, are com- pletely incommensurate to the nature of some of the infringe- ments they are intended to de- ter," the NAO said. "This sig- nificant dif- ference between the enforceable fines and OHS related costs, may be incentivising duty holders to forego the implementation of adequate OHS measures and 'risking' a relatively minimal fine if detected by OHSA's in- spectorate staff." The NAO also acknowledge external factors, such as innate cultural disregard to OHS con- siderations, legal constraints and other compounding factors – such as the consid- erable presence of irregular work- ers within this industry – that were creating a regulatory co- nundrum which is not easily overcome. "The significant shortage in the quantity of inspectorate staff (compared to internation- al standards) at OHSA's dispos- al, further adds unwarranted pressure on the Authority's op- erations and creates gaps in the latter's potential coverage." Hamrun shopping mall owners to appeal insolvency order MATTHEW VELLA THE shareholders and directors of D.A. Holdings Limited, the owners of the Daniels shopping complex in Hamrun, have said they will appeal the court order that has declared the company insolvent. Among the grounds of appeal is what they say is a blatant breach of the shareholders', the direc- tors' and the company's right to a fair hearing and their right not to be discriminated against. "It results from the acts of the case instituted by Panta Con- tracting Limited that the share- holders, the directors and the company were prevented from adequately defending themselves against the claims of the credi- tor company," lawyer Simon Mi- callef Stafrace said. While Daniels shopping com- plex is still open to the public, a judge last week ordered the winding up of the operation af- ter action was taken by creditors Panta Contracting Ltd, over an outstanding debt of €1.5 million. The court heard that D.A. Holdings had several other cred- itors who are owed over €12 mil- lion. Panta Contracting argued that D.A. Holdings was in a state of insolvency and only appeared solvent on paper due to a €20 million revaluation of its prop- erties in 2012, the last time the company filed its accounts. But D.A. Holdings' lawyer said that prior to the court order, the company directors instituted a constitutional case claiming that their right to a fair hearing and their right not to be discrimi- nated against had been violated. "A request was made to the court hearing the 'insolvency' case to suspend the hearing of the case until such time as the Court hearing the constitutional ap- plication handed down its judg- ment. This request was turned down," Micallef Stafrace said. The complex has lost some €500,000 alone in debts owed from More supermarkets, whose boss Ryan Schembri f led the country in 2014 leaving behind millions in debts. Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mc- Keon ordered the dissolution of the company. Owners of Daniels shopping complex say they will appeal court order to sell off YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt