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The Lift Works Safety Forum organised by the Housing Department (HD) was held today (February 28). More than 400 people from various industry-related organisations joined the forum to share their knowledge and experience of lift works safety.
Speaking at the forum, the Director of Housing, Mr D W Pescod, said that the HD attached equal importance to the safety of its tenants and the workers responsible for lift installation, repair and maintenance.
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) has about 5,100 lifts serving over 2 million users in about 170 public housing estates every day. This accounts for about 10 per cent of the total number of lifts in Hong Kong. Moreover, about 100 lifts are replaced every year under the HA's ongoing lift modernisation programme.
Based on the statistics of the first three quarters of 2013, the projected accident rate for the whole year in Hong Kong is 39.3 per 1,000 workers. For the HA's new works contracts, the overall accident rate is 7.4 per 1,000 workers. For maintenance contracts, it is 4.1 per 1,000 workers. Among the latter, two minor accidents were lift works-related. Figures show that the HA's accident rate is far below than that of the average in Hong Kong during the same period.
"Although we are doing better than the others, it is not good enough. To us, even one case is too many. 'Zero Incidents' is the ultimate goal that we aim to achieve," said Mr Pescod.
At the same occasion, the Deputy Director of Housing (Estate Management), Mr Albert Lee, said, "Over the years, the HD has implemented a number of measures to enhance work safety regulations and guidelines. Contractors are required to strictly adhere to these standards and provide enough protection gears for workers. At the same time, the HD has worked out a set of work safety rules outlining the good practices on site for contractors and workers to follow."
Ends/Friday, February 28, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:45
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