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Although the construction industry has made remarkable improvements in its safety performance in recent years, the number of accidents involving renovation and maintenance works recorded a growing trend.
The number of accidents in renovation and maintenance works has increased from 247 cases in the first quarter of 2005 to 290 cases in the corresponding period this year, up 17.4%. Its share in the total number of construction accidents also rose from 36.5% to 44.1% in this period.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the "Safe Working at Height Promotional Campaign 2006" today (October 15), the Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said it seemed that the recovery of Hong Kong's economy had led to more industrial incidents.
Although the number of industrial accidents in the construction sector dropped by 3% from 677 in the first quarter of last year to 657 in the corresponding period this year, the accident rate per thousand workers has increased by 13.5% from 42.2 to 47.9.
Mr Cheung pointed out that four fatal accidents concerning renovation and maintenance works were related to work-at-height in truss-out scaffolds last year while two such cases were recorded so far this year.
"Investigation by the Labour Department indicated that some of these accidents were caused by problems in the construction of the scaffolds. In other cases, we found that the workers failed to use fall-arresting equipment in erecting or dismantling the scaffolds, or failed to attach the safety harnesses to appropriate fixed anchorages or independent lifelines," he said.
In view of the possible financial difficulties faced by small and medium-sized building contractors in purchasing safety equipment, the department and the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) jointly launched a subsidy scheme last year to help them buy fall-arresting equipment for working-at-height.
A subsidy of up to $3,000 is offered to proprietors or contractors of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to purchase a transportable anchor device, safety harnesses and independent lifelines. All subsidised SMEs must deploy their employees to attend a related safety training course which is offered free of charge. A total of 264 applications have been approved up to the end of September this year.
According to a study on the safety of truss-out scaffolds carried out by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and commissioned by the OSHC, the use of T-shaped metal brackets could help overcome the difficulties in fixing and removing the expansion anchor bolts at lower positions, Mr Cheung said.
To encourage traders to use safety equipment of higher standard, the department and OSHC have recently made a decision to increase the subsidy ceiling of the above-mentioned scheme by $500 to further assist applicants to purchase up to a maximum of five T-shaped metal brackets.
Mr Cheung stressed that the department is highly concerned about work safety involving truss-out scaffolds. The department would step up enforcement and inspection to ensure that building contractors would strictly abide by the relevant safety regulations.
In addition, the department would step up publicity work and join hands with relevant organisations in the industry to organise different kinds of activities in a bid to raise workers' safety awareness of work-at-height and to reduce work accidents.
The campaign held today was jointly organised by the Provisional Construction Industry Co-ordination Board, the Labour Department, the Occupational Safety and Health Council, 13 government departments and relevant organisations in the trade with an aim to promote the safety of working-at-height.
Ends/Sunday, October 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:41
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