Three other people must die in building collapses before any meaningful changes to laws concerning the construction industry can be made, according to the government.
Following the death of Miriam Pace, whose house collapsed yesterday while construction work was happening on an adjacent property, several people have commented that action is only taken in Malta when someone dies.
But according to the government, this claim is incorrect.
“A lot of people are saying that – now that someone has lost their life – this means changes will finally take place and existing rules will be enforced. But they are mistaken, as I rewrote the ‘one death’ rule in 2016 following consultation with Robert Musumeci. Now, four people need to die,” Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg said, adding that if multiple fatalities occurred in the same incident, this would only count as one death, while deaths of foreign nationals would not be counted at all.
“Furthermore, these deaths must all occur with a period of twp months, and there must be no doubt whatsoever that the deaths were caused by criminal negligence. This must be proven in court by the victims’ families at their own personal cost.”
Aside from house collapses, the ‘four deaths’ rule also applies to workers falling from construction sites, serious traffic accidents, fireworks factory explosions, and any other incidents that would have been avoidable with better laws and enforcement.
