Editorial | One fatal accident at work remains one too many for city like Hong Kong
Deaths at construction sites will continue to mount unless a safety mindset is instilled first and foremost at all levels
Hong Kong must wake up and strive to build a solid and comprehensive work safety culture for all before another fatal accident makes the headlines. That was the appeal in our editorial when six workplace fatalities were lodged within weeks in November.
Alas, that disturbing list has just got longer with three more cases last month, prompting some serious soul-searching as to why the city is so poor when it comes to industrial safety.
That it has taken more casualties to drive the point home is regrettable. In the second work-related fatality in a week, a 53-year-old man was crushed by a falling curtain glass wall at the construction site of an upscale property project in Kowloon on Sunday.
He and two other workers were reportedly lifting the 1.2-tonne glass panel when one of two straps snapped. The victim was said to have more than 10 years’ experience in such installations and had been working at the site for six months.
It remains unclear whether the case involved damage or wear to the strap that went unnoticed.
