A Hong Kong construction worker has been killed after being hit by reinforcing steel bars which fell at a construction site in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The man was 43 years old and had the surname Wang. The Fire Services Department told HKFP that first respondents arrived at 21 Ashley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui four minutes after receiving a call at 12:43 p.m. on Tuesday, and Wang was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The department deployed an urban search and rescue team, as well as 10 fire trucks and three ambulances.
The police told HKFP that the man was pronounced dead at 1:35 p.m. He was hit by around 30 one- to four-metre long bars, police said.
iCable News reported that over 20 rebars fell from the first floor of the construction site around noon.
According to the website of developer K&K Property, a “purpose-built building for health care services with professional facilities” is planned for the site.
Police are currently investigating the incident.
The Labour Department said it was investigating the cause of the incident in a statement published on Tuesday.
The city has seen several industrial accidents over the past few months. Last month, a 26-year-old worker was killed after he was hit by a stack of bricks that was being trasnferred from a barge.
In September, three construction workers were killed after a crane collapsed at a building site in Sau Mau Ping.
Soon after that incident, a government watchdog announced it would investigate the regulation of occupational health and safety in the construction industry. There were 23 fatalities in the industry last year.
The Office of the Ombudsman will probe three government departments – the Labour Department, the Buildings Department and the Development Bureau – to evaluate whether they have suitably enforced laws intended to protect worker safety, according to a press release published on Thursday.
“Fatal industrial accidents in construction work projects have occurred frequently in recent years, which is worrying. One life lost to an industrial accident is too many,” Ombudsman Winnie Chiu said.
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