A union on Thursday called on the government to do more to boost construction safety, after more than 20 workers died in industrial accidents so far this year.

Speaking at a press briefing, Lee Kwong-sing, a safety advisor from the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union, said even though the government had earlier raised the maximum fine for occupational safety violations from HK$500,000 to HK$10 million, that’s had little deterrent effect.

While statistics from the Labour Department show that there were 17 fatal construction accidents in 2022, he said at least 21 workers have lost their lives so far this year – more than half of them falling from height.

Lee said officials should put in place regulations that make sure buildings are designed in a way that won't undermine the safety of workers during construction, repair and maintenance works.

“It is very, very important that in the planning stage, we already consider all the safety control measures… I think the major issue is to insert the safety concept in the planning stage,” he said, adding that there should be codes of practice for works that involve working at height or lifting operations.

As more non-local construction workers are being imported to work for local projects, Lee said more training should be provided for them.

“In mainland China, they have their own safety culture. Also in Hong Kong, we have the other safety culture. How to merge this safety culture is a big issue... I think we should conduct more training, more promotion.”