The chairman of the Construction Industry Council on Saturday said heavier penalties imposed earlier this year have not reduced the number of deaths at construction sites, and that it is more important to nurture the awareness of safety.

Thomas Ho told an RTHK radio programme while bosses could now face a two-year jail sentence and a fine of HK$10 million over industrial incidents, the number of fatalities have gone up slightly this year.

He stressed that half of the over twenty fatal incidents this year could have been prevented if workers had used safety harnesses properly and risk assessment had been done.

Ho added the council has been training workers to prioritise safety and he hopes to see an improvement in the next few years.

"A change in culture cannot be achieved overnight. I hope that in three to five years' time, every worker will attach their safety harnesses [to a point] once they're working [from height]... and that dynamic risk assessment will be done," he said.

Ho added that Hong Kong may import up to 7,000 construction workers by the third quarter of 2024 to ease a manpower crunch, and that the council is ramping up efforts to train more local workers.