Tighter site safety urged after Hong Kong records over 60 industrial accidents

Hong Kong labour unions have urged worksite supervisors to step up risk assessments and precautionary measures to strengthen work safety culture, as the city reported at least 62 industrial accidents, including 24 fatal cases, in the first half of this year.

The calls on Wednesday followed the case of a worker who was killed when an excavator toppled at a Ho Man Tin construction site two days earlier, and of a man who died after being struck by a road roller at a Kowloon Bay refurbishment site on Friday.

Fay Siu Sin-man, chief executive of the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, said machinery had long been a major cause of industrial accidents, adding that a lack of risk assessments before work and a failure to correct problematic practices could have led to the casualties.

“The importance of pre-work risk assessments should not be undermined … As long as they identify the risks, they will think about the precautionary measures and minimise the accidents,” she said.

“It is a matter of safety awareness. It is not only about the frontline workers, but all individuals in every work position.”

Siu said a safe work culture could only be built when the site owner provided resources without rushing the job, middle-level management monitored hazards closely, and workers proactively identified risks.