The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

26 cases of fatal industrial accidents this year

2022-12-23T10:00:11.663Z


Serious industrial accidents have been frequent this year. Mirror concert crashes, electric switches in mother and child care homes, and Anderson's Libra are particularly eye-catching. The spate of fatal industrial accidents in recent months has also drawn public attention to occupational safety issues. work


Serious industrial accidents have been frequent this year. Mirror concert crashes, electric switches in mother and child care homes, and Anderson's Libra are particularly eye-catching. The spate of fatal industrial accidents in recent months has also drawn public attention to occupational safety issues.

The Industrial Accident Rights Association held a press conference this morning (23rd) to review the work-related injuries and major occupational safety events in 2022. As of December 20, the Labor Department had recorded a total of 26 fatal industrial accidents, of which 17 were in the construction industry.

The labor rights association pointed out that the number of fatal industrial accidents is similar every year, and the number of deaths this year has not increased significantly, nor has it decreased significantly, which also reflects that the situation has not improved.


The labor rights association suggested that the government handle other industrial accidents in the same way as the Mirror concert, including setting up a special task force to investigate, publishing the investigation report, regularly explaining the progress of the investigation to the public, and intervening in the serious crime team.


Siu Sin-man (left) and Yu Jiahao (right) from the Labor Rights Association today review the major work-related injuries and occupational safety issues in 2022.

(Photo by Deng Boliang)

According to figures from the Labor Department, in the first half of 2022 there were 123 occupational fatal accidents (that is, deaths during work). As of December 20, the Labor Department had recorded a total of 26 fatal industrial accidents (regulated by the Industrial Actions), among which the construction industry had the largest number of 17 cases, and there were 25 fatal industrial accidents in the whole of last year.

Secretary-General of the Labor Rights Association Siu Sin-wen said that overall, the number of fatal industrial accidents fluctuates similarly every year. The number of deaths this year has not increased significantly, but it also reflects that occupational fatalities are as frequent as before and have no downward trend. The situation is still worrying.

The Trade Union has followed up a total of 67 occupational death cases this year, 21 of which were sudden deaths, mainly due to heat stroke, overwork or their own diseases, 14 of them fell from heights or left the ground in accidents, and 9 of them were collapsed or crushed by falling objects 23 people were killed in other accidents.

Xiao Qianwen described that "falling from height" is still the hardest-hit area of ​​fatal accidents every year. Of the 14 follow-up accidents of falling from height or leaving the ground this year, the construction industry accounted for 10 cases, and most of them were holes from floors. Falling, falling when building a scaffold, etc.

In addition, there were more accidents this year where workers were crushed to death by collapsed objects, including scales, gates and steel cages.

Yu Jiahao, secretary of the trade rights union, pointed out that there have been 4 suspected cases of death from heatstroke this year.

(Photo by Deng Boliang)

In addition, with climate change, the weather in Hong Kong is getting hotter and hotter. Yu Jiahao, secretary of the Trade Rights Association, pointed out that there have been 4 cases of suspected heat stroke deaths this year, all of which were workers working in high temperature or extremely hot weather.

Yu Jiahao continued to point out that although heatstroke is a work-related injury, neither employers nor employees have any relevant knowledge, resulting in very few reported cases.

In fact, one can obtain occupational death compensation for death due to heatstroke during work, but it is extremely difficult to obtain a medical certificate.

Yu explained that since the death certificate usually does not indicate that the death was caused by heat stroke, the family members of the deceased may need to hire another medical expert to make a medical report before filing a lawsuit with the employer.

The few cases that the union has dealt with, where death certificates list heatstroke-related cases, have also stalled over opposition from insurance companies.

The Labor Rights Association urges the Labor Department to study the issue of death due to heatstroke, cooperate with the medical profession and formulate appropriate policies to assist the families of the deceased in facing difficulties such as judicial proceedings, and clearly disseminate the message that "heatstroke is a work-related injury" to the public.

In addition, the Labor Rights Association stated in the press conference that the various measures taken by the government to follow up on the Mirror concert fall incident have been rare for many years. The association called on the government to deal with other types of occupational accidents in the same way, including the establishment of a special task force Investigations, disclosure of investigation reports, regular disclosure of investigation progress to the public, high-profile mediation of employment relationships, and involvement of the Police Serious Crime Squad in investigations, etc.

As for the frequent occurrence of industrial accidents, Sioux believes that it is related to the lack of safety education and awareness. When the safety awareness of everyone in the work process is insufficient, and some people in each environment do not do well, there may be accidents and endanger others.

Trade unions are actively promoting safety education, including promoting it in schools in the form of dramas.

The Labor Rights Association stated in the press conference that the government has taken various measures to follow up the downfall of the Mirror concert, which has been rare for many years.

Family members of work-related injuries jointly called for the acceleration of occupational safety and health amendments: Punishment is not painful, and tragedies will only continue to repeat themselves

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-12-23

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-26T10:45:41.629Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.