A Hong Kong lawmaker has urged the government to enhance work safety protection after a landfill worker died on Christmas Day.
Legislator Michael Tien wrote in a Chinese-language Facebook post on Tuesday that he had previously called on authorities to mandate safety mechanisms on machines used on construction sites.
“How many times do I have to make my demands, how many lives do we sacrifice before the authorities chance their stance?” Tien said.
His comments came after a worker at a landfill in Ta Kwu Ling, an area near the border with mainland China, died on Monday. According to the Labour Department, the 60-year-old had been trapped between the rear of a refuse container tractor and a refuse tipper.
The worker was sent to North District Hospital, where he was certified dead, authorities said.
The deceased worked for a contractor of the North West New Territories Transfer Station and was responsible for handling the waste tipper at the North East New Territories Landfill. Local media outlet Ming Pao reported that the contractor was Swire Waste Management Limited.
Writing on Facebook, Tien said a similar incident happened in November, when metal rods hanging from a crane truck crushed four workers, killing one. Industry experts said at the time that contractors were responsible for ensuring that no workers were in the area while a crane truck was operating.
“Both incidents involved drivers not being able to see people who should not have been there, resulting in tragedy,” Tien said.
He added that the problem could “easily have been solved” if sensors had been installed.
“In November, I asked… the Secretary for Labour at the Legislative Council meeting if [he] would mandate such [safety] mechanisms for construction vehicles,” Tien said. “He said he would first appeal [to the contractors].”
He added: “Now, another tragedy of a similar nature has happened. Why exactly does [the government] not require contractors to install something so simple?”
In a statement on Tuesday, the Labour Department said it was highly concerned about the fatal work accident and that it had launched an investigation into it. The department added that it had issued a suspension notice requiring the contractor to halt the use of the refuse tipper.
Workplace safety
Hong Kong’s labour rights activists have long sounded the alarm on workplace hazards that have resulted in injuries or death.
In April, the government raised the maximum penalty for employers who commit serious occupation safety violations from HK$500,000 to HK$10 million under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance.
Even before the increase, however, the fines meted out typically fell far short of the maximum penalty. In March 2022, a cleaning contractor was fined HK$20,000 after a worker fell 35 floors down a refuse chute to their death in a Tuen Mun housing estate two years before.
According to a Legislative Council paper published last Tuesday by the Labour and Welfare Bureau, there were nine fatal industrial accidents in the first half of this year, down slightly from 12 in the same period last year.
In November, the Labour Department said it had stepped up inspections and enforcement at construction sites in light of the recent spate of accidents. The department said it inspected 1,060 construction sites over two weeks and issued 210 “improvement notices/suspension notices.” Thirty-five prosecutions were also initiated.
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