The Minister for Justice and Reform in the Construction Sector Jonathan Attard, while addressing the media, presented a number of legislative amendments that deal with various Legal Notices related to the Building Authority Act and Construction (BCA). These amendments will continue to raise standards and establish clear responsibility and this in the interest of third parties and the workers who are working on the site.
“These legislative interventions follow several other interventions that have been made in recent years and precede others that will be implemented in the near future so that as a government we continue to raise standards in the construction sector, clarify more the responsibility and we provide peace of mind to everyone who may be affected”, said Minister Attard.
Through these amendments, sites that no part of them touches and affects third party properties (stand-alone) not only must adhere to certain conditions provided by law when it comes to times, hoarding, excessive dust, noise, cleanliness of the vicinity, pavements, roads and site notice among others, but they will be obliged to have insurance.
This will mean that a Clearance/Acceptance Notice will not be issued by the Building and Construction Authority if there is no insurance in force and its documentation submitted to the authority and that in case of breach of the conditions provided in the law, the same authority will be able to intervene by stopping the work and imposing a sanction.
With the gradual amendments being implemented in the laws, the Authority continues to assume a greater role, including when it comes to the development of stand-alone sites.
“With this change in the law we have extended the insurance obligation even on sites known as stand-alone, to provide peace of mind to any third party who may suffer damages. At the same time we strengthened the obligation to have Employers Liability Insurance, in such a way that those employers who complained that they cannot find an insurance service, assume a clear responsibility in the law, including when they operate with a company”, he said Minister Attard.
In cases where the licensee and employer will not have an insurance policy that covers the employee, the person or the company together with the directors and those people who run the same company will be held civilly liable for any damages or damage suffered by a third person or an employee working with the same person or company. This will lead to more standards in the sector and above all to a more effective and efficient remedy for workers and their relatives in case of injury or death.
“There is nothing more important than the life and health of the worker. Therefore, the need was felt that the law should provide that if it is declared several times that a worker or his family, after he has been injured or lost his life and after judicial procedures have been carried out, it is established that he or they will expect the damages, they will have a more effective chance of receiving these damages and will not remain without remedy because the company will not have any assets from which to make good”, concluded Minister Attard.
The media was updated with these developments in a meeting held at the Ministry of Justice and Reform in the Construction Sector earlier today and which was also addressed by the CEO of the Building Authority and Construction (BCA), Jesmond Muscat.
