A spokesman for the Development Bureau (DEVB) said today (September 26) that the Government attaches great importance to construction safety. In response to the fatal industrial incident at a private project at West Kowloon on September 24, the DEVB has suspended the contractor concerned from tendering for public works contracts pursuant to the regulating regime.
      
     The spokesman said that the contractor concerned was under the List of Approved Suppliers of Materials and Specialist Contractors for Public Works (the List) of the DEVB. The DEVB issued a notification to the contractor concerned yesterday (September 25) to suspend it from tendering for the Air-conditioning Installation category of public works contracts with immediate effect. The contractor concerned has to conduct an independent safety audit to review its safety management system. Taking cognisance of the outcome of the independent safety audit, the contractor is required to submit an improvement action plan and implement improvement measures, with a view to demonstrating that it has an effective safety management system before the uplifting of the suspension from tendering can be considered. The suspension from tendering is not only confined to future tender exercises, but is also applicable to tender exercises with procedures initiated but not concluded.
      
     The DEVB will continue to follow up on the incident seriously. Subject to the investigation findings of the fatal industrial incident, the DEVB may impose further regulating actions on the contractor concerned afterwards, including extension of the period of suspension from tendering for public works contracts and even removal from the List.

Ends/Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Issued at HKT 18:02

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