The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) has ordered the full or partial suspension of 20 construction projects after inspecting 74 construction sites on Saturday, according to a DSAL statement released later that day.
The statement says that the bureau will conduct safety inspections on the city’s 557 construction projects starting from Saturday in response to a string of recent work accidents causing multiple deaths and injuries.
Three workers died in separate work accidents in three days last week.
On Wednesday, a welder died when working on a construction site in Taipa. The Judiciary Police (PJ) said there was a bum mark on his chest and assumed that he died in a work accident. The authorities have still to reveal the cause of the worker’s death.
On Thursday, a lift technician died after he was hit by suspension ropes that fell from the 22nd floor when he was working at the bottom of a lift shaft in a commercial building in Nape.
On Friday, an I-beam fell and hit three workers in a construction site in Cotai, leaving one dead and two injured. The workers involved in the three accidents were all from the mainland.
The statement says DSAL inspectors, led by the bureau’s director Wong
Chi Hong, inspected 74 construction sites on Saturday.
A total of 20 suspension orders were issued due to unsafe conditions related to working at height and with electricity, as well as a lack of general safety measures. During the inspection, the bureau imposed 57 penalties for safety violations, according to the statement.
The statement also says that the bureau will put more effort into promoting work safety and work more closely with construction worker unions and building contractors.
