'Systemic issues affect construction safety'

RTHK：Video News

A workers' rights representative on Tuesday said systemic issues in the construction industry were to blame for a drop in workplace safety. Siu Sin-man from the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims told a press conference that more than 100 workers, 11 of them from the construction industry, have died on the job since the start of the year. Last week, three workers lost their lives within a span of five days while another died on Tuesday after falling into the sea near Stonecutters Island. Siu cited a 7.5-hour mandatory safety training course currently in place – commonly known as the Green Card – and said it failed to provide new workers with adequate safety knowledge and awareness. "The government should increase the length of Green Card courses, and a certain training hours must be completed before they renew any speciality licences," she said. Siu also said the "lowest bid wins" principle and a low weight of safety scores in the overall bidding process led to insufficient resources to help ensure safety. To help raise public awareness at an early age, she called on the government to introduce construction safety education in primary schools. Ho Wing-ip, an electrical and building services engineer, noted that the fatality rate for construction workers had dropped to 0.093 per 1,000 workers in 2016, but has since risen annually, reaching 0.178 last year. “As an engineer, I would conclude that the external factors must have deteriorated. The external factors include the tendering system, monitoring system, supervision system, audit system, mentality of workers, all these, I think they are deteriorating," he said. "Personally I think we have room for improvement, especially touching on the penalty in the construction laws in relation to the safe working environment." Currently, all capital works with contracts over HK$30 million are required to implement the Smart Site Safety System, which includes features like centralised management platforms, monitoring devices for workers and electric locks for dangerous areas. Besides the safety features, Ho said a key focus should be on educating stakeholders about safety.