Hong Kong lawmakers blast ‘very light’ penalties for workplace death and injury convictions

Light penalties and low conviction rates for Hong Kong workplace health and safety breaches were on Wednesday slammed by legislators, who questioned how effective toughened-up laws were in reducing on-the-job deaths.

There were 29 industrial deaths recorded by the Labour Department to the end of May this year after Occupational Safety and Occupational Health Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2023, which increased penalties for offenders, came into force on April 28 last year.

The Legislative Council heard that, of 111 prosecutions linked to eight industrial accidents, there was only one case where the hearing was concluded. The two proprietors of a non-construction industrial concern were fined HK$50,000 each.

“This is very unsatisfactory because there are very few convictions and the penalties are very light,” legislator Stanley Ng Chau-pei, also the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said.

“It feels like, although we have amended the law, it has not prevented the occurrence of industrial accidents.”

Lawmakers at a Legislative Council meeting questioned the deterrent effect of the amended law and highlighted that a HK$50,000 fine (US$6,405) was not big enough to deter safety breaches that risked the welfare of employees.