Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun said today the Government will conduct a review of the Buildings Ordinance in the coming year and put forth amendment proposals to enhance building work safety.
 

Mr Sun told the Legislative Council that the aim of the review exercise is to empower the Buildings Department to take more effective enforcement actions.
 

Its scope includes exploring ways to streamline procedures for making referrals to the disciplinary board and expedite the processing of cases.
 

The review will also explore the feasibility of undertaking prosecution and disciplinary actions in parallel, and consider increasing the duration of suspensions and the level of fines.
 

Mr Sun highlighted that the Development Bureau already takes swift regulatory actions against contractors on its approved lists who have been involved in serious incidents, regardless of whether criminal proceedings have been completed or not. Such actions include suspension from tendering for public works contracts and even removal from the approved lists.

 
Mr Sun added that raising penalties is only one strategy available to the Government in seeking to improve the city’s occupational safety and health (OSH) performance.
 

He stressed that when assessing tenders for public works contracts, relevant departments do not adopt the principle of “the lowest bid wins.” In addition to looking at bid levels, he explained, they also consider bidders’ technical capabilities and track records. Site safety is an important aspect and contributes to about 30% of the overall technical score given to bidders. 
 

Mr Sun also outlined that under a new tender evaluation mechanism rolled out this month, the site safety score of a contractor who has been involved in a serious incident will be deducted from their overall technical score, even if the incident did not occur at a public works site. 

On the enforcement of OSH legislation, Mr Sun emphasised that the Labour Department upholds the same rigorous regulatory standards at all construction sites, regardless of whether these are operated by the Government, public organisations or private companies.
 

He added that, as the current legislation already covers a variety of duty holders and clearly states the liabilities of different stakeholders, it is not necessary to amend the OSH legislation to further clarify the responsibilities of site owners and duty holders.