Crunch culture and tight timelines blamed for 15 construction site deaths this year

Construction sector representatives have blamed the industry’s crunch culture for the 15 fatal worksite accidents recorded in Hong Kong since the beginning of this year. Construction workers in Hong Kong. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Speaking on RTHK radio, Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union chair Chau Sze-kit said that aloof attitudes toward occupational safety stem from a pervasive culture of rushing work at construction sites, pushing workers to prioritise convenience and foregoing precautions. “When frontline management faces deadlines and potential penalties, they may choose to take shortcuts on certain safety procedures,” Chau said in Cantonese. Chau also said the industry-wide practice of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder meant safety was sacrificed for speed, adding that contractors may offload the pressure they face to subcontractors who have “no bargaining power.” Speaking on the same RTHK programme, Lawrence Ng, chair of the Construction Workers Registration Board at the Construction Industry Council, said that worksite bosses are often pressed to get more done in less time to compensate for increasingly frequent delays caused by extreme weather. A worker at a construction site in Hong Kong on February 13, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. He cited a survey conducted by the Council indicating that 5 to 7 per cent of frontline managers and workers have “extremely weak” safety awareness. Safety culture Ng’s remarks come a day after Construction Industry Council chairperson Thomas Ho said during a construction safety event that worksite fatalities are continuing to climb in spite of harsher penalties levied against negligent employers. In April 2023, Hong Kong amended the Occupational Safety and Occupational Health Legislation Ordinance, raising the maximum penalty for employers who commit serious safety violations from HK$500,000 to HK$10 million. Violators also face up to two years in prison. Ho said the 15 deaths so far this year was an increase compared to before the penalty was raised. “Safety culture hasn’t made its way to the worksite,” Ho said in Cantonese. “Out of the 15 [fatalities]… even a safety supervisor died. Why? Because we have only paid lip service and haven’t truly fulfilled our responsibility.” Construction workers in Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. “Crunch culture is one of the biggest killers on construction sites,” he added. Delivering an address at the same event, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn said that worksite accidents more broadly had decreased by 20 per cent between 2023 and 2025, following the implementation of the “4S” Smart Site Safety System. This enables early identification of potential safety hazards through smart devices and communication networks for data transmission, allowing for prompt follow-up actions to be taken. The Development Bureau requires all capital works contracts exceeding HK$30 million – amounting to 60 per cent of construction works citywide – to adopt the safety monitoring system. Citing a 2025 Legislative Council research document, Chau Sze-kit of the Construction Industry Employees General Union said that Design for Safety (DfS) good practices – an international standard for construction safety – should also be adopted. According to the Construction Industry Council, “DfS is the process of identifying potential hazards and reducing health and safety risks through adequate design earlier at the conceptual and planning phases and throughout the project lifecycle.” The LegCo document cited research which found that over 60 per cent of work accidents in Hong Kong could be traced back to inadequacies during the design stage. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law. Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law. More by James Lee