Hong Kong’s shameful work safety record has been further tainted after a 47-year-old man
died in a fall from the scaffolding of a construction site on Sunday, three years after three workers were killed by a
collapsed crane in the same location. What followed was all too familiar, with the authorities suspending work pending investigations and vowing to pursue responsibility under the law.
Every so often when an
egregious workplace accident hits the headlines, the same old questions over safety awareness, procedures, precautionary measures and supervision are asked. Valid as these concerns are, they risk becoming a routine response if stakeholders do not seriously review what went wrong and redouble efforts to do whatever it takes to prevent a recurrence.
In the latest accident, the man reportedly lost his footing and fell after he unfastened his safety harness to switch positions with a fellow scaffolder on a ninth-floor balcony at the Housing Society residential project in Sau Mau Ping. Queries were also raised over whether it was a case of reduced supervision on a Sunday.
In the horrific 2022 accident at the same work site, a 65-tonne tower crane collapsed and killed three workers and injured six others. The
contractor involved, a company linked to five deaths in three accidents in 2022 and 2023, was subsequently replaced. Regrettably, the change of contractor did not guarantee a better safety record.
Hong Kong recorded several other workplace fatalities in recent months. In early September, a 26-year-old man died after
falling seven storeys while performing aluminium formwork-related tasks inside a cage at a public housing construction site in Kwu Tung. Weeks later, a woman was struck and
killed by a crane at a construction site in Tai Po.
Behind the numbers are heartbreaking tales of spouses, children and parents bereaved by the death of a loved one who set out to earn a living and never returned. They raise questions over Hong Kong’s commitment to creating a comprehensive work safety culture, which is too often taken for granted, be it at the individual, workplace and policy level. One fatal work accident is one too many. The last thing Hong Kong needs is more sorry episodes and standard responses.
