Chan Kam-hong, a workers’ champion and driving force behind improvements in Hong Kong’s industrial safety for more than 30 years, dies at 60

Hong Kong labour rights activist Chan Kam-hong, the indispensable driving force behind improvements in industrial safety laws and practices over the years, died on Sunday night. He was 60.

Chan, chief executive of the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, had a fall at his home last month and subsequently suffered a stroke. He later had problems with his lungs. Chan died at Princess Margaret Hospital.

The day after he fell, he was due to fly to Australia and visit his son, a university student there. His wife was also in Australia at the time.

Chan or his staff were always on the scene to help and console victims and their families – from the collapse of a work platform during the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in 2012, to most industrial accidents over the past three decades.

“He devoted himself to helping workers and their families. He has been on the front line for more than 30 years. Whenever there was an industrial accident, he would rush to the scene. The only times you did not see him on the front line was when he was sick or when he was out of town,” said Fay Siu Sin-man, a colleague of Chan.

Chan joined the association 36 years ago at a time when construction companies and contractors were not paying much attention to the safety of their workers, Siu said. Chan wanted to make a difference.

“He really felt for the workers’ well-being. The working conditions of [construction] workers were very bad in the 1970s and 1980s. For example, the bosses wouldn’t buy insurance for their workers. He had seen a lot of these cases,” Siu said.

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For decades, Chan had been helping the families of victims of industrial accidents fight for better compensation from companies. Because of his efforts, Siu said, more companies had over the years been willing to engage with the victims’ families to discuss compensation.

More recently, after lobbying from Chan’s association, the Labour Department finally decided to strengthen the penalties for construction safety violations from HK$200,000 to HK$6 million (US$764,772), or 10 per cent of the company’s turnover, whichever is higher.

The department wanted to complete the legislative amendments within the current term of the administration, which ends in 2022.

Chan had said that he wanted Hongkongers to remember that the city’s prosperity was built on the sacrifices of the workers.

Carol Ng Man-yee, chairwoman of the Confederation of Trade Unions and a friend of Chan for about 10 years, remembered him as a relentless campaigner.

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“If company bosses declined to meet the victims’ families, he would refuse to leave. He would call supporters to come and help until the bosses were willing to meet the families,” Ng said.

“He dedicated his life to industrial safety many years ago because of an old case where a worker died in an accident and the family did not even have money to pay for the funeral.”

Last year, the association helped workers and their families in 70 fatal industrial accidents and 300 non-fatal cases.

The city’s labour and welfare minister, Dr Law Chi-kwong, who knew Chan for more than 30 years, extended his deepest condolences to his family.

“[I] have been most impressed by his strong commitment and passion. Under Mr Chan’s leadership, the association supports industrial accident victims and their families, and promotes employees’ health, rehabilitation as well as employees’ rights and benefits. Over the years, the association has been the government’s partner in promoting occupational safety and health, and also provided valuable inputs on various labour policies on employees’ compensation,” the minister said in a statement.