‘We could have lost our lives’ – KPH worker on hazardous conditions created by adjacent scrapyard

A worker at KPH opened up to BusinessNow.mt about the shock and pain he’s been carrying since the massive fire at the JAC scrapyard in Luqa last Friday, just next door to their facility.

“Last Friday, we could have lost our lives,” he says. “We [the workers] are very hurt and upset. That incident should have never happened.”

Reflecting on his experience working next to the scrapyard, the distressed worker recalls how scrap piles frequently spilled over the boundary wall.

“I’ve seen pieces of metal fall right onto our premises. Imagine if someone had been standing there, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone could have easily been killed.”

This aligns with a judicial protest made public by lawyer Jason Azzopardi.

“It’s not right. We shouldn’t have to risk our lives just to go to work,” says the worker, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

“We feel completely abandoned. KPH is doing everything possible, but the authorities are not doing anything to protect us.”

Last Friday, a massive fire at a Marsa scrapyard sent thick smoke billowing across Malta. In total, 153 firefighters and 16 senior fire officers from the CPD battled the blaze for hours, risking their lives to contain the disaster.

On Monday WhosWho.mt unravelled the network behind the fire-prone scrapyard, whose owner, Conrad Baldacchino, maintains notably close ties with several Labour Party figures. The company is partly owned by Audrey Inger Demicoli, also known as Audrey Testaferrata De Noto or “Perit Audrey,” contested the 2022 general election as a Labour Party candidate.

A spokesperson for KPH on Monday told WhosWho.mt that one of the silos that was luckily emptied just a few hours before, acted as a “shield” for the others.

KPH takes action, authorities turn a blind eye

Yesterday, lawyer Jason Azzopardi published one of two judiciary protests filed against the JAC scrapyard. The document raises serious concerns about the ongoing hazards faced by KPH workers.

Among other points, the protest states that the piles of scrap metal repeatedly exceeded the height of the dividing wall between the two sites. In some cases, the weight of the scrap was so great that several stone blocks were displaced, creating a significant danger to workers at KPH.

In addition to the risk posed by falling metal, which has been confirmed by a witness, the document highlights how oils from the scrapyard seep onto the KPH premises during rainfall, further compromising safety.

Additionally, a pathway that is supposed to be kept clear, running between the boundary wall and the KPH silos where feed is stored, was instead packed with cars and metal scraps, causing pieces of metal to spill over the wall and land inside the KPH premises.  

The protest also describes how workers are subjected to constant pressure to operate in these unsafe conditions, citing “illegalities” and “continuous rampant abuse” within the scrapyard’s operations.

Despite these ongoing dangers, the judiciary protest points out that the authorities have failed to intervene.

Among other points, the document demands that JAC immediately remove any scrap material encroaching on the dividing wall and clear the pathway, which is currently cluttered with debris but must remain unobstructed. Furthermore, it calls for an assessment of the damage to the dividing wall and that JAC be held responsible for the necessary repairs.

Main Image: Civil Protection Malta / Facebook