In a city known for its towering skyscrapers and fast pace of life, lifts or elevators are an essential part of life. Ever wondered how many lifts there are in Hong Kong? The 'vertical' city has more than 57,500 lifts installed. The always increasing number calls for an ever-growing requirement for quality lift and escalator mechanics and engineers. This has become a major concern of the industry.
'Lift and elevator companies in Hong Kong have a target to recruit about 150 new employees in 2011. However, there were only about 60 students from relevant disciplines at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education graduating this year,' says Danny Luk, human resources director at Schindler Lifts (Hong Kong).
Fewer people are entering the sector and, according to Luk, the long training period is regarded as the main reason behind this. '[Based on the legal requirement,] a normal apprentice takes four years of training to be a qualified worker. It makes our industry less attractive for the younger generation,' he says.
However, as there are many opportunities for employees to move up the corporate ladder, the sector's turnover rate is relatively low. For example, Schindler Lifts supports its staff undertaking further education, which is geared towards apprentices and field engineers. 'We have sponsored the further study of many of our apprentices to the point that they become engineers or even managers in the company,' says Luk.
Nevertheless, he reiterates that the industry must attract more people to enter the business given the natural ageing of the workforce. 'The community has become reliant on lifts, escalators and moving walkways for transportation - hence, the demand for lift and escalator workers will remain high.'
Lift and escalator safety is an area that the industry takes seriously, especially so following the 2008 incident involving an empty passenger lift plunging 14 floors at a Tai Po residential estate. According to Luk, the protection of employees and users is a core value of Schindler Lifts.
'We have a comprehensive set of work procedures and guidelines to ensure work safety. On top of that, we also focus on safety behaviour management. Our objective is to help employees achieve the 'zero unsafe act in the workplace and daily life'. This is because we believe safety to be more about behaviour than following rules,' Luk says.