INDUSTRIAL safety concern groups have called on the Government to ban a popular construction method on building sites, given the escalating accident rate.
The general secretary of Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, Mr Chan Kam-hong, said the use of hand-dug caissons led to about 300 accidents each year.
He said there was an average of two deaths a year as a result of these accidents and, this year, one worker had already been killed while working on a caisson.
Hand-dug caissons have been a popular method to consolidate the foundation of a construction by opening a small-diameter hole and sending workers down to manually dig and lay concrete.
Mr Chan said it was a popular method compared to mechanical alternatives, like piling or bore-piling, which were more expensive.
The number of accidents was consistent even though the number of construction projects was falling, Mr Chan said.
The president of the Society of Registered Safety Officers, Mr Lee Hung-kwong, said caisson hazards included the presence of methane gas, a sudden in-rush of water and earth, and metal buckets falling from above.
