A subsidy of up to $3,000 is offered to small and medium-sized contractors to purchase fall arresting and anchoring equipment to improve work safety at heights, and a total of 149 applications have been received, Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Matthew Cheung says.

The scheme, jointly launched by the Labour Department and the Occupational Safety & Health Council in October, aims to improve work safety involving truss-out scaffolds, which are commonly used in repair and maintenance works.

Speaking at the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme presentation ceremony today, Mr Cheung said there were 1,070 accidents involving repair, maintenance, minor alteration and addition works in the first three quarters of 2005, accounting for 41% of the total number of construction accidents.

Blitz enforcement action

The Labour Department has adopted a targeted approach and more flexible measures to step up the enforcement work regarding truss-out scaffolds, he said.

Apart from normal point-to-point inspections, occupational safety officers also conduct blitz enforcement action at night and during holidays to clamp down on offending contractors. Suspension notices or improvement notices will be issued when necessary.

"We have also enhanced co-operation with the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies by setting up a reporting mechanism. We can then get hold of schedules of property maintenance works using truss-out scaffolds to facilitate us to take follow-up action," Mr Cheung said.

Construction accidents plunge 72.8%

The number of industrial accidents in the construction sector plunged 72.8% from 14,078 in 1999 to 3,833 in 2004 while the accident rate per 1,000 workers also fell 69.6% from 198.4 to 60.3. The number of fatal accidents dropped 63.8% from 47 to 17.

In the first three quarters of last year, the number of construction accidents stood at 2,587 as against 2,889 in the same period in 2004, down 10.5%. The accident rate per 1,000 workers also dropped 4.3%, from 59.2 to 56.7.

This year, 84 construction sites, 47 sub-contractors and 57 safety teams took part in the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme.