CONSIDER the above picture, which appeared on the front page of the South China Morning Post yesterday. Notice anything strange about it? In most developed countries a company manager would be horrified to see a member of his staff climb on a supermarket trolley to fix a sign to the ceiling.
So, why is it that in Hong Kong these kinds of unsafe work practices are accepted? Why are we accustomed to reading stories of serious accidents at building sites? There are about 18,000 on-site accidents reported each year. In 1997, half of those involved injuries to the feet. Yet, it is common to see building workers wandering around sites in slippers.
Western engineers and site officers in Hong Kong are privately appalled at the use of bamboo scaffolding on high-rise construction projects. They say it is nonsense to suggest that the material has great strength and the flexibility to cope with high winds, even though this is the perceived wisdom in Hong Kong. Bamboo scaffolding is dangerous. That it continues to be used says more about the expense of switching to steel than its inherent safety.
Or consider the human toll for building Chek Lap Kok. Forty-nine people were killed and 7,000 injured on site during the project. The scale of the project makes it an easy target, but you can be sure this picture is being repeated a thousand times on smaller sites and projects across Hong Kong.
There is a culture of risk in Hong Kong that does not fit well with our image as a newly developed country.
Part of the problem has to do with with employees who are careless of their own safety. But a big share of the responsibility rests with companies that allow poor industrial safety practices to continue.