Construction staff to win from labour shortage

Improved worksite environment, pay rises, more job training and free herbal tea are just some of the extra benefits for staff that big construction companies are coming up with, faced with a possible labour shortage by 2012 or 2013, when most big infrastructure works begin.

Gammon Construction, a big contractor in Hong Kong, has already started training shot-firers - who skilfully conduct explosions - to prepare for a surge in demand amid increased tunnelling work ahead.

'Trainees needed to handle 12 blasts before they can be qualified shot-firers, and you don't get these chances very often, so it's time to start training them now,' executive director Yu Sai-yen said.

There are only about 34 shot-firers in Hong Kong - grossly insufficient for the upcoming projects, including the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou. The 26 kilometre Hong Kong section is to be mostly 20 metres underground.

Operators of tunnel-boring machines too will foreseeably be in high demand in the next few years. And the daily wage of bar benders - skilled workers important in the early stage of works - is expected to jump by some 10 per cent to around HK$1,100 next year.

But the chief executive of Paul Y. Engineering Group, Dr Stanley Wong, said wages and training were not the only means to attract and retain talent. 'You also need to offer a dignified work environment,' he said. 'They shouldn't be ashamed that they are construction workers.'