Malta’s construction industry ‘stained with blood’ of innocent victims of lawless development

Relatives of Jean-Paul Sofia, the young victim of Malta’s latest fatal construction accident, railed against a broken system of rules on the industry and accused developers of taking their greed to the extreme.

“This construction industry is stained with the blood of people like Jean-Paul Sofia... we owe it to him and the other families affected by these deaths,” the relative said at a demonstration, in which she called for a stringent set of rules for the industry.

The demonstration was led by Moviment Graffitti, whose spokesperson Christine Cassar said the construction accidents that had claimed so many lives were “inevitable consequences of a rotten system that sacrificed lives for developers’ greed.”

“The deaths of Miriam Pace, Jean Paul Sofia, Rita Vella and the construction workers who died on site, could have been avoided... but their lives were sacrificed on the altar of greed,” Cassar said.

“We cannot stay silent... construction is leaving numerous victims and innocent people dead, and families are left broken-hearted.

“We need intelligent laws, harsh penalties for those who do not respect the rules, effective inspections during various stages of construction, better security standards – with facts and deeds... we cannot let greed command over us,” Sofia’s relative said.

Top left to right: Emmanuel Grech, Elenia Briffa, Dieidy Coulibaly, Luca Curmi and Raffaele Conte Bottom left to right: Joseph Ellul, Agostina Grech, Hayrettin Kok, Amadou Sewaneh and Adrian Muscat

OHSA bill to speed up inquiries

A total of 87 magisterial inquiries into workplace deaths and injuries that have occurred over the last seven years remain open. The list, dating back to 2015, shows that magistrates are still investigating 29 workplace fatalities.

The bulk of the 29 workplace deaths on the list occurred on construction sites, many foreigners who fell to their deaths, such as that of 26-year-old Mabruk Abubaker Abdullatif, who fell a height of several storeys at a construction site in Sliema. But the magisterial inquiries are still open.

Another victim was Romeo Antonio Scolari, 49 who fell from a height at a site in St Julian’s in March 2019. Malian national Dieidy Coulibaly fell four storeys at a construction site in Qawra in 2019. His inquiry is also still ongoing.

Occupational Health and Safety Authority CEO Mark Gauci recently told The Times that the authority was pushing for the bill to involve the OHSA in court investigations into workplace accidents, to speed up the conclusions.

The bill seeking to speed up magisterial inquiries passed its first reading in parliament. The OHSA oversees workplace safety and ensures the well-being of all workers in all workplaces, but it is not involved in magisterial inquiries. “If the bill is passed, we will see speedier conclusions, justice acting faster and a stronger deterrent effect,” Gauci said.

Graffiti call out rotten system

Exactly two months ago, the lifeless body of 20-year-old Jean Paul Sofia was found under the rubble of a collapsed building in Corradino. Five other workers were seriously injured in the incident, three of them critically. Only three years ago, on 2 March 2020, Miriam Pace was killed in her home after the whole building collapsed as a result of construction works on an adjacent site.

“The workplace death of construction workers has also become a monthly occurrence and thousands are injured on construction sites every year,” Graffitti spokesperson Christine Cassar said yesterday.

“These are not tragic accidents but the inevitable consequence of a rotten system designed to satisfy the insatiable hunger for the profit of developers and other businesses in the construction sector. The deaths of Jean Paul Sofia, Miriam Pace, and all construction workers who perished at their workplaces were preventable. Their lives have been sacrificed at the altar of greed.”

No one has been yet charged in connection with Sofia’s death. “Real justice for all the victims of the construction industry will only be served when the systemic factors that have allowed this rot to fester are addressed,” Cassar said.

Relatives of fatality victims and Graffitti yesterday called for a public inquiry into the death of Sofia in a bid to go beyond identifying individual responsibility and uncover systemic failures. “Tragically, the reform promised in the wake of Miriam Pace’s death has failed to materialize beyond a few cosmetic changes,” Cassar said.

Graffitti said that four crucial factors underlined the systemic failures that were leading to construction deaths.

The licensing of contractors, “bitterly opposed from behind the scenes by the developers”, which would ensure that operators in the construction sector are trustworthy and adequately trained; with a mechanism by which licenses can be revoked when operators engage in malpractices.

There are currently no laws that regulate basic aspects of the construction process such as what construction machinery and material can be used, where and how.

The NGO also said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) established two years ago had become “another dysfunctional authority seized by developers’ interests”, chaired by architect Maria Schembri Grima, one of the main architects of some of Malta’s most ruthless developers, such as Joseph Portelli and Michael Stivala. “The BCA has very little to show for its work. The reforms it should have been spearheading have stalled and enforcement in the construction industry remains far from sufficient.”

Additionally, the lack of planning reforms was evident by the fact that the four-storey building which collapsed in Corradino that killed Sofia had been given the go-ahead by means of two Development Notification Orders (DNOs), low-level permits that allow applicants to bypass the planning system and build entire structures on the strength of a mere notification, without any serious evaluation of the building project.

“The failure to reform the deadly construction industry lies in the power of developers to veto any serious measure that can safeguard people’s safety and quality of life. It is truly shameful and worrying that Government is willing to accede to this lobby’s demands instead of protecting the workers and residents in Malta and Gozo,” Cassar said.