Hong Kong’s construction industry must improve safety culture among workers to reduce deaths, sector leader says
- Thomas Ho, Construction Industry Council chairman, says 70 to 80 per cent of fatal industrial accidents this year caused by mentality and habits of workers
- Tougher punishments have failed to reduce number of deaths, he adds
Hong Kong’s construction sector must improve its safety culture among workers to enhance risk management and precautionary measures as tougher punishments have failed to reduce the number of fatal industrial accidents, an industry leader has said.
Thomas Ho On-sing, chairman of the Construction Industry Council, on Saturday said 70 to 80 per cent of fatal industrial accidents this year had been caused by the mentality and habits of frontline management staff and workers.
“We did some analysis on more than 20 fatal accidents this year and found that most of them were actually caused by habits and culture,” he told a radio programme.
“We must improve the culture. It is expected that there may be a transition period of three to five years to change the culture.”
He added that no dynamic risk assessments were conducted at the construction sites involved in several of the accidents, which could have prevented the deaths.
