A worker fell five floors to his death from a San Po Kong building when an excavator hit scaffolding yesterday. Leung Pui-kin, 47, was apparently not wearing a safety harness, and the excavator driver could not produce a licence, police said. Leung was thrown from the scaffolding at about 11 am when the excavator fell through a hole on the roof of the fifth-floor block under demolition and its arm crashed into the scaffolding. Last November, a woman was killed and another hurt when part of the building crashed nine floors on to a bus. Work resumed at the site at the junction of Choi Hung Road and Tai Yau Street on May 9 after safety requirements were met and extra precautions implemented. At a meeting between the Labour Department and the Federation of Trade Unions yesterday, union leaders said the 26 deaths on construction sites this year were unacceptable and urged the Government to step up safety enforcement and penalties for careless or irresponsible constructors. 'Companies should assume legal responsibility when accidents happen but responsibilities for inspection belong to the Government,' said Wong Chi-mei, secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions' occupational safety and health committee. Six workers were killed when a platform collapsed at the Rambler Channel Bridge project last Thursday. The Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Lee Kai-fat, defended the Government's safety enforcement efforts. He said inspections on industrial sites had been drastically stepped up since last year.
