Accident not the first involving gates

The cleaner who died yesterday is the third to have been crushed to death by a metal gate in the city in the past four years.

In August 2006, a 40-year-old Nepali security guard who worked at AsiaWorld-Expo at Chek Lap Kok was killed when a metal gate - 6.2 metres tall and 2.8 metres wide - fell and crushed him. A Labour Department investigation led to a contractor being fined HK$15,000 for breaching the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance.

Another fatal case, in May 2006, occurred when a security guard on a construction site in Tai Po was hit by a 270kg metal gate.

At least four other cases involving falling metal gates causing injury have been reported in the past four years.

Last October, a 450kg metal gate fell on a guard at the Tai Po Industrial Estate, critically injuring him.

In December 2007, a metal gate fell on a security guard, 53, at the entrance of the Wilson Logistics Centre in Kung Yip Street, Kwai Chung.