A 56-year-old electrician fell to his death on Tuesday as he laid cables at an Aggressive Construction site for a Fire Services Department project on To Wah Road.

The man was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, but was later declared dead. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Fay Siu Sin-man, the chief executive of the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, said she was distressed to hear about the third fatal incident involving the same construction company in such a short space of time.

She added there should be stricter measures imposed on companies if they were found to be repeat safety rules offenders.

“Penalising or suspending the company may be a temporary solution, but that’s not feasible in the long run,” she added.

“Ultimately, the company has to be thoroughly examined to see if it has issues with its safety management system and whether the accidents were caused by human error or its management.”

“However, until all investigations and legal proceedings have been completed, the government cannot revoke its licence, which might cause the public to wonder about the safety at the contractor’s other sites,” Leung said.

“The government departments should step up efforts to inspect all of the contractor’s sites to check whether guidelines were followed properly and reinforce safety measures.”

The electrician, who was working on an elevated platform on Tuesday, was found to be wearing a safety harness, but it was unclear whether it had been attached to an anchorage point.

Leung added delays in projects if Aggressive Construction had its licences revoked would also have to be considered, as authorities would have to go through the tendering process again to look for a replacement.

Lee Kwong-sing, a safety adviser with the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union, said the Labour Department did not have the right to revoke the company’s licence to operate and could only penalise it by banning it from bidding on public projects.

“Companies have to renew their registered general building contractors licence before a board every three years,” he said.

“This is to ensure a fair and transparent review process for the contractor, who will be given the chance to explain and defend themselves before the board.

“However, in this case, I think the chance of [Aggressive Construction] having its licence renewed is very slim.”

Lee added that the extension on the tendering ban by the Labour Department would have had a significant effect on the firm as public projects were a big part of its business.

The Yau Ma Tei incident is among a spate of fatal industrial accidents involving Aggressive Construction in recent months.

A 55-year-old employee died last December after a steel beam fell on him as he worked at a site on Yau Tong’s Tung Yuen Street.

Three workers were killed and six more injured in September 2022 after a 65-tonne (72 ton) tower crane collapsed onto containers being used as temporary offices at a Housing Society building site on Anderson Road in Sau Mau Ping.

Aggressive Construction, the main contractor at the site, was banned from bidding on public projects by the Development Bureau until the end of the year because of the Sau Mau Ping incident. The previous ban was scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

The bureau on Wednesday decided to extend the ban to the end of 2024 because of the latest industrial accident and warned it would consider additional measures against the contractor.

The Labour Department issued a temporary work suspension notice to Aggressive Construction a day earlier as officials investigated the cause of the incident.

Aggressive Construction’s project on To Wah Road involves a HK$797 million (US$101 million) contract for an 11-storey fire station complex, including staff recreation facilities. It was expected to be completed by this year or in 2024.

The Development Bureau said it would consider further action against the company, subject to the outcome of the latest investigation, with possible responses including extending the ban on public project bids.

The company could also face removal from the bureau’s lists of approved contractors and suppliers.

The company was approved in 2004 by the Buildings Department as a registered general building contractor and has had its licence renewed every three years.

A check by the Post found Aggressive Construction is at present in charge of seven projects involving public and private clients.

They include public housing construction in Tung Chung and Tuen Mun under the Housing Authority and the High West development at Pok Fu Lam for the University of Hong Kong.