4 Hong Kong construction workers injured by falling metal rods in latest of spate of industrial accidents on city sites
- Firefighters freed the four workers with pair who sustained serious injuries rushed to hospital
- Preliminary investigation finds that a steel wire broke on crane truck when rods were being delivered
Four workers were injured, two seriously, after being hit by falling metal rods at a Hong Kong construction site on Saturday, with a wire rope on a crane truck suspected to have snapped while making a delivery.
Police said they received a report at about 1.30pm over an accident at a site for the new Central Kowloon Route on the junction of Ferry Street and Kansu Street in Yau Ma Tei, with four workers pinned down by iron objects.
A preliminary investigation found that a steel wire broke on the crane truck when the rods were being delivered.
Firefighters subsequently arrived at the scene and freed the four workers, aged between 40 and 50 years, the force said.
“Two who sustained serious injuries were rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital,” a spokesman said. “The other two, who suffered lighter injuries, were sent to Kwong Wah Hospital. All four were conscious.”
Call for better construction supervision in Hong Kong after 3 workers die
Police had classified the incident as an industrial accident and were investigating, he said.
The 4.7km Central Kowloon Route, which is expected to be commissioned in 2025, includes a tunnel section about 3.9km long.
The Fire Services Department said the incident happened underneath a flyover at a material unloading area, with a depth of 15 metres.
A spokesman said it was suspected the rods fell from height while being lifted and that the four workers did not have enough time to react and escape.
As the site was temporary and very narrow, construction tools and vehicles were needed to help in the rescue. More than 10 rods, each about 3.2cm thick, were left at the scene.
Two fire engines and four ambulances were mobilised for the rescue.
Fay Siu Sin-man, chief executive of the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, said the one of two severely hurt had suffered head injuries. The other had injuries to his neck vertebrae.
She added that she was “confounded and angry” because it was the ninth accident involving lifting operations, resulting in six deaths, this year.
“There have been at least 20 fatal industrial accidents in the construction industry so far this year,” she said.
“There will be frequent lifting work in future because of the prevalence of prefabricated buildings and installation of giant pieces, such as glass curtain walls, increasing the risks of such accidents.”
Recent industrial accidents at construction sites have prompted the labour minister to step up efforts to tackle poor safety management.
Earlier on Saturday, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han told a radio programme that authorities would work with the Department of Justice to prosecute contractors involved in illegal actions.
More sanctions demanded for Hong Kong building firms who fail to protect workers
The Labour Department would issue stop-work orders on sites involved while the Development Bureau would suspend the bidding qualifications of such contractors, he added.
In the latest fatal industrial accident, a 58-year-old worker was killed on a construction site in Tung Chung on Friday afternoon after he was hit on the head by an aluminium sheet that fell during a lifting operation.
The Labour Department said it was highly concerned and had suspended the contractor’s work until it was “satisfied that measures to abate the relevant risks have been taken”.
Siu urged authorities and contractors to handle lifting operations more carefully in the future. She called for more information about Saturday’s accident to be released as soon as possible.
