Regulations promulgated in 2018 bar contractors from doing any work on a construction site unless a project supervisor has been appointed. The legal notice burdens such supervisors with a long list of duties in order to ensure health and safety on the workplace. The regulations deem the role of project supervisors so crucial it affords them indemnity for any action they take, unless they are negligent. The experience on the ground, however, appears to be far from what the regulations envisage to ensure at least the minimum health and safety standards. In the eyes of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority’s chief executive officer, some project supervisors do not take their job seriously enough. However, George Steve Darmanin, president of the Malta Occupational Safety and Health Practitioners, has offered Times of Malta a somewhat different narrative. In a nutshell, what he says puts project supervisors between a rock – wanting to do their duty scrupulously – and a hard place – exposing themselves to prosecution or blacklisting if they do. Project supervisors are at a disadvantage from the word go and this not only because of the very limited powers they have. They are...
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