Union leaders hope an emergency government meeting today will help speed compensation for the families of industrial accident victims.
The meeting was called after six workers were killed on the Rambler Channel Bridge project this month.
The Secretary for Education and Manpower, Joseph Wong Wing-ping, who will chair the meeting, said: 'The aim is to ensure proper co-ordination and follow-up action.' Legislators and labour rights activists said that unless the problem of lack of co-ordination between departments was solved, red tape and 'departments passing the buck' would inevitably slow accident investigations and compensation for victims or their families.
Leung Kam-oi, of the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, said any compensation delay had a devastating effect on families who had lost their only bread-winners.
'It's really sad to watch these families, especially the children, who have to live on welfare because of the unnecessary delay in releasing compensation,' she said.
'The Government should co-ordinate efforts to speed up investigation and compensation.' Lau Chin-shek, the veteran legislator and director of the Christian Industrial Committee, warned that initial confusion over who should take charge at the scene of an accident could hamper efforts to collect evidence and interview witnesses.