Press Release

13/06/2022

Housing Society and industry partners pledge to promote site safety culture
and enhance construction quality by signing Charter on Construction Safety

The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) today (13 June) joined hands with nine contractor partners to promote construction safety by signing the "HKHS Safety Charter for Construction Projects" (Construction Safety Charter). The participating parties have pledged to maintain a safe and healthy work environment and safeguard workers’ health when implementing HKHS's housing projects.  The HKHS Construction Safety Charter Signing Ceremony was co-organised by HKHS and Occupational Safety & Health Council (OSHC), jointly supported by the Construction Industry Council and the Labour Department.  The ceremony was officiated by Ir Thomas Ho, Chairman of the Construction Industry Council (CIC), and other attending guests included Dr Alan Chan, Chairman of OSHC, Chan Ka-lai, Assistant Commissioner for Labour (Occupational Safety), James Chan, HKHS Chief Executive Officer, and senior management of the contractors.

The nine participating contractors of the Construction Safety Charter are currently undertaking HKHS construction projects, namely Aggressive Construction Company Limited, Build King Construction Limited, Chevalier (Construction) Company Limited, Gammon Building Construction Limited, Kin Wing Engineering Company Limited, Paul Y. General Contractors Limited, Tysan Foundation Limited, Vibro (H.K.) Limited and Yau Lee Construction Company Limited.

CIC Chairman Thomas Ho said in his speech, "CIC appreciates HKHS's efforts in fostering a positive safety culture by inviting contractors involved in HKHS's projects to sign the Safety Charter.  Safety first and foremost, CIC aims to promote safety awareness among the construction industry and raise safety standards on sites. CIC has continued to launch the 'Life First' campaign in May 2022.  Through encouraging the industry to participate in activities like silent tribute, safety inspections and workshops, CIC hopes that stakeholders can identify and review the associated risks of operation in order to avoid accidents.  As everyone has a role to play, CIC would like to recall all stakeholders to take up the responsibilities to enhance construction safety and 'Say No to Danger'."

HKHS Chief Executive Officer James Chan said, "The Housing society has been sparing no effort in establishing a positive culture in construction safety for our development projects. "Safety First" is also pivotal to all our construction works.  We would like to express our gratitude to our contractors and industry partners for their ardent support to the Construction Safety Charter, making a commitment to shoulder the shared responsibilities in maintaining site safety.  In order to put construction safety into practice, we also pledge to uphold safety at all times throughout the course of housing construction, and have mitigation and precautionary measures in place to minimise risks.  The Housing Society is thankful for the active participation of OSHC as the co-organiser, as well as CIC and the Labour Department for their full support in making Hong Kong a city of safe construction collectively."

James Chan added that the 25 projects being planned or developed by HKHS will contribute to more than 40,000 housing units in the next 20 years, with around 28,000 of them to be completed in about 10 years' time.  With this unprecedented construction peak in the pipeline, a quality and timely project delivery, and assurance to construction safety during the whole construction process are of equal importance for achieving an all-win situation for every party involved.

The co-organiser, OSHC Chairman Alan Chan said, "Today's signing of the Construction Safety Charter exemplifies the attending contractors' unwavering commitment to site safety, setting a leading example for others in the industry.  The coming 20 years will be a production peak for HKHS, we would stand firm with HKHS and work closely with everyone here to enhance the construction safety culture, making Hong Kong a safe and healthy place to live and work."

The HKHS Construction Safety Charter aims to drive the participating industry partners to honour their pledge with the ten tenets: set the highest standards of site safety for HKHS's housing projects and accord priority to construction safety; provide and maintain a safe and healthy work environment; ensure safety management system is properly implemented, maintained and evaluated on construction sites; identify, assess and mitigate constructions risks throughout the life cycle of a construction project; ensure all staff members observe relevant safety and health regulations and contractual requirement; facilitate continuous improvement of site safety, and provide sufficient safety training to equip staff with essential knowledge and skills etc.

Back to top