Yesterday’s current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of public broadcaster TDM, discussed the enhancement and promotion of occupational safety and health, during which Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Occupational Safety and Health Department Head Lei Seak Chio noted that the bureau had temporarily stopped the work at four construction sites in the first six months of this year due to serious accidents or potential safety hazards.
According to Lei, the bureau conducted in the first six months of the year a total of 1,610 inspections of 826 construction sites, of which five sites were found to have committed occupational safety and health offences, involving inadequate safety measures for work-at-height activities and unsafe use of electricity.
Lei noted that more than 120,000 Occupational Safety Cards have been issued since 2014, covering the whole construction sector, adding that the bureau also continues to organise occupational safety seminars for the sector, with 9,200 participants in the first half of this year, apart from having launched various industry occupational safety and health incentive schemes and training programmes for participants from other sectors.
Earlier this month, a 59-year-old air-conditioning worker fell from a high-rise flat of a residential building in Zape while he was repairing a compressor, as his safety rope fastened to an AC bracket on the external wall of the flat broke, causing him and the compressor to fall to the ground, where he died on the spot.
Lei stressed that safety should always be at the forefront of our minds, and that we should not be complacent at any time and should do a good job in ensuring safety, adding that it was difficult for the bureau to monitor home renovations, and if the property management company of a building discovers any irregularities in home renovation work, it should alert the company and the owners concerned, and it could also notify the bureau to send staff to follow up on the matter.
During yesterday’s programme, a resident surnamed Ho who used to be employed as a construction worker, expressed his concern on the safety risk to scaffolders wearing special safety shoes at work, and that wearing safety goggles in the hot summer was causing them to sweat and thus affect their vision.
Lei responded that the bureau has exchanged views with the scaffolding workers’ union that workers should wear non-slip or puncture-resistant safety shoes when entering construction sites to prevent them from being injured by nails or debris on the ground, and that they should wear special footwear when erecting scaffolding to ensure safety at work.
Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Occupational Safety and Health Department Chief Lei Seak Chio (second from left) and representatives from the construction sector pose during yesterday’s current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi at Nam Kwong Building. – Photo courtesy of TDM
