Directly-elected lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I, who chairs the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) 1st Standing Committee, which is currently reviewing a government-initiated bill aiming to protect construction workers’ rights, said yesterday the committee hoped the government could clarify who would be considered the relevant people in charge when there is more than one constructor on the same construction site, and how the responsibilities of their respective workplace safety personnel can be coordinated.
Addressing a press briefing after yesterday’s closed-door meeting reviewing the construction safety bill, Lei said that the legislature’s advisory group was collecting the opinions of the committee and listing the members’ questions, before the committee could ask government officials to attend the meeting to review the bill together with its members.
According to the bill, a subcontractor is hired by a contractor to complete construction tasks as part of an overall project assigned by the latter. Lei said that the committee members yesterday expressed concern about the specific responsibilities of subcontractors if there are accidents caused by them.
Lei said the legislature’s advisory group pointed out that, with reference to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention Concerning Safety and Health in Construction, workers have the right to take action when there are sufficient reasons to believe that there is an imminent and serious threat to their safety or health, and in such an emergency workers have the right to stop work or evacuate the workplace.
The committee members also said they were concerned about the rights and powers of workers, designated persons and security personnel, especially their ability to prevent or avoid threats to their safety when they conclude the situation is extremely dangerous for them.
Regarding the bill’s proposed penalties, Lei quoted some committee members as saying that they were concerned about what the criteria for penalties would be, and whether they would be sufficient to prevent safety threats.
Lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I (right), who chairs the legislature’s First Standing Committee, talks to reporters after yesterday’s closed-door meeting of the committee reviewing the government’s construction safety bill, as the committee’s secretary, Becky Song Pek Kei, looks on. Photos courtesy of TDM
