Concerns about safety at work for the workers of the Electric Power Corporation and a lack of skilled workforce were raised in parliament on Friday.

The Member of Parliament for Fa'asalele'aga No.5 Peseta Vaifou Tevaga raised the point during his address on the Social Sector Committee Report on the annual report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the Financial Year 2022/23.

Peseta said the problem was that most students who graduated from university lacked of skills and experience to do work.

He applauded assistance from f Australia for the partnership with Samoa in establishing the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) assisting students get qualifications. 

"The lack of skills is my concern here because most of our students who graduated with degrees in apprenticeship do not have the skills to do their work," Peseta said.

He believes that a good example of this was some employees of EPC who died while performing given tasks on electricity poles because of the lack of safety guidelines and skills to conduct work.

Peseta, a qualified engineer said this was something that the chairman and the committee should look into, building two or three workshops so that the students who graduated can do practical activities to gain skills to pursue their careers.

He requested that the government must spend at least $300,000 on workshops so the students could use them for practical purposes once they graduated with their qualifications.

The MP for Fa'asaleleaga also believes that the issue with poor wiring in most homes by electricians with no qualifications is the cause of fires.

The Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure Olo Afoa Fiti Va'ai said he does not believe the cause of fires to some of the houses in Samoa is from the wiring of the homes.

Peseta fired back and said he believed this as a certified electrician.

He said some families paid electricians who were not certified to wire their houses and this is why some burned down.

Peseta advised EPC to look into the issue of safety guidelines in order to protect their workers, especially linesmen who were working out on the field.

Chairman Ale Vena Ale acknowledged the debate on the Social Sector Committee report and said their requests had been recorded for solutions to some of the problems faced by the Ministry of Education and the Samoa Qualifications Authority.