Labour Department to strengthen penalties for construction safety violations, to fall more in line with international standards
- Penalties will go up from HK$200,000 to HK$6 million, or 10 per cent of the offending company’s turnover
- There were 11,077 industrial accidents in 2017, resulting in 29 deaths, a figure the department admitted was high
Hong Kong’s Labour Department is drastically strengthening penalties from HK$200,000 to HK$6 million, or 10 per cent of the offending company’s turnover, whichever is higher, to fall more in line with international standards, in a bid to deter construction safety violations.
The new fines would apply to “extremely serious cases” involving high culpability or serious negligence, the department said in a document tabled to the Legislative Council’s panel on manpower on Wednesday.
For other more general offences, the department proposed penalties go up to HK$3 million (US$382,162). Maximum prison terms would rise from six months to two years, according to the proposal.
With 11,077 industrial accidents in 2017, killing 29 people, the department admitted the number of fatalities had remained at a high level in recent years.
“There are views in the community that one of the major reasons is that the sentences for [occupational safety and health] offences are on the low side, which fails to reflect the seriousness of the contraventions and fails to pose a sufficient deterrent effect to duty holders violating the law,” it said in the document.