Yesterday, David Xuereb gave a very brief testimony as Chairman of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority to the public inquiry of Jean-Paul Sofia. He is also a director at the Building and Construction Authority. The testimony was so curt that most of the important structural issues involving this case are being deliberately ignored. David Xuereb has much more to explain, although these explanations would not be meant to seek any justification of his position and his role since he, like other rent-seeking representatives of the construction industry, is part of the problem.
David Xuereb says he was never given a policy by the government over health and safety, or the construction industry, and despite all his bluster and talk he never drafted policy proposals of his own. The role of a government director requires the director to provide constant technical feedback to the government on what needs to be done apart from constantly providing policy feedback and development. Instead, David Xuereb who contradicts the CEO of the OHSA, Mark Gauci over the entity’s website, makes it absolutely clear that he is not fulfilling his role as a public official. Instead, he is trying to impress the public with silly proposals he makes verbatim like a “name and shame policy.” The man is ridiculous and is not making any effort to hide the fact that his positions in these public entities are only given to him knowingly and willingly by Robert Abela as a gift to the construction industry.
The construction and building entities need to be led by principled people who have the interests of workers and ordinary citizens at heart – they are not meant to cater to the construction industry’s interests. David Xuereb can “shit-talk” as much as he likes about his pathetic ideas, but the mere fact that these authorities have evidently and to a great extent failed the public is a responsibility he has to bear. I am quite flustered at silly journalists who take this man seriously. “Name and shame,” he says – pathetic. Are you out of your mind? The government needs very well-planned and structural enforcement made by experienced bureaucrats and technocrats and not some random shit-talk architect representing construction industry interests. These people would at the very minimum conjure a policy and a serious plan that is executed. David Xuereb who doesn’t have a plan and has no idea what he is doing, can’t keep it a secret that he and many other public officials are simply lobbying clowns of the construction industry and have absolutely no right to hold to their positions.
Another point that was raised to which David Xuereb once again admitted his gross incompetence was the subject of the training and the hiring of health and safety professionals. during the inquiry, David Xuereb bragged that he helped introduce a course on public safety at MCAST, but in reality, this course has much lower standards than the already existing health and safety course at the University of Malta. They are actually lowering standards for health and safety and not pushing them higher.
The University of Malta offers a Degree in Occupational Health & Safety (Honours) with a part-time course spanning 5 years. After 3 years (and 90 ECTS credits) one would be given a Diploma equivalency letter (not an actual Diploma). This course is very labour intensive, covers a variety of subjects, and prepares the students for a career in Health & Safety. University students are lobbying and have long been demanding that this profession becomes a warranted one to increase professionalism, and competence as well as update qualifications in this area.
Incredibly, the course that David Xuereb is mentioning opened at MCAST last week, and by comparison, the course can be completed in one year Full Time, and only covers the most basic subjects apart from having only 60 ECTS credits.
Then Xuereb also lamented that he doesn’t know why people aren’t applying to become Health and Safety officials with OHSA, but in reality, he knows very well why. The reason is simple and lies in the very poor salaries OHSA’s offers when compared to the private sector. An OHSA officer with a Diploma gets between 19,000 to 21,000 per year. The same person qualified with a Diploma in the private sector can attract anything from 25,000 to 35,000 and upwards depending on experience. As in many other regulatory and enforcement agencies, the disfunction at the OHSDA may be actually, intentional.
He also refused to divulge the minutes of the OHSA’s board meeting on Jean-Paul Sofia’s, or, at least, he is trying not to divulge them. David Xuereb has many conflicts of interest in his public roles, especially his interest in defending his colleagues and friends when he is supposed to regulate them.
Another important point that came out during the public inquiry, yesterday is that the Police Corps is unable to do simple data-gathering exercises.
This public inquiry is already showing gross structural issues in public entities and it has only just started. Imagine if the public inquiry was actually conducted properly and in good will instead of being sabotaged from the onset by the OPM.
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