Editorial : fatal aviation fuel exposure

Abstract

The guest editorial relates to a remarkable disregard for health and safety (H&S) at work resulting in four fatalities at the height of world war two in Malta in 1942. The author, then a seven year old boy, witnessed the event and should be commended for doggedly researching the facts, until finally revealing the sequence of events that led to this tragedy. Eighty years later, and similar events with fatalities at work continue with depressing regularity – only now, the extenuating circumstances associated with a world war that, to a large extent, allowed this lapse in safety back in 1942, simply do not exist. In contrast, in 2023, there are no excuses that can ‘justify’ the general sloppiness and, in many cases, the total disregard of anything to do with H&S that prevails on a daily basis in numerous workplaces in Malta. Indeed, those in authority in 2023 should learn from the lesson presented by their counterparts in 1942 who took immediate and effective action to address their own H&S crisis almost a century ago!