Hong Kong considers tougher site operations rules after spike in construction scandals

Hong Kong’s Construction Industry Council will form a task force to review site operations in an effort to address work quality issues following a spike in discoveries of substandard work on buildings and infrastructure across the city.

On Wednesday, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho announced the task force and said that it would explore measures to boost the construction industry’s performance. These could include requiring frontline workers to wear body cameras to record critical work procedures.

The announcement came after the government said it planned to step up construction supervision by stipulating that steel reinforcement arrangements be photographed or videoed before concrete pouring and inspections by an independent laboratory.

“Having complete recordings will have a significant deterrent effect on the industry because all evidence will be right there,” Linn said, responding to lawmakers’ questions in the Legislative Council.

“Currently, the Buildings Department is communicating with the industry about the implementation details because we need to confirm certain work procedures. We hope the measures will be implemented gradually starting in January, or even earlier,” she added.

“With this experience as a base, I believe the Buildings Department will gradually trial this arrangement in other critical work procedures.”

Reviewing the proposed arrangement and tightening regulations followed the discovery last month of substandard steel bar work in a house at One Stanley, an upmarket estate on Hong Kong Island.

Linn said the department ordered an inspection of 15 other houses and 12 flats in six residential blocks at the estate.

She added that the department had received assessment reports from an independent, endorsed laboratory, and would take enforcement action if any breach had been found.

Scrutiny of the construction industry surged after 30 defective columns at the MTR Corporation’s Tung Chung West station under construction and faulty lift installation work at Queen Mary Hospital’s new clinical block.

Given these recent construction scandals, Linn said the Construction Industry Council would soon establish a dedicated task force to review quality issues and propose practical measures to improve industry performance.

The Council was established as a statutory body in 2007 to forge consensus on the industry’s strategic issues and advise the government.

According to Linn, the task force – comprising representatives of the government, developers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants and professionals – would set out the matters to be reviewed and a timeline for their review.

She said the review areas preliminarily included the subcontracting regime, the duties of personnel at different levels, the use of technology in supervision and the ability, standards and training of industry participants.

The task force would also assess whether certain effective practices adopted in public works could be applied to private projects, Linn added.

Public works projects allowed at most two tiers of subcontracting for certain work. Since June this year, on-site supervisors and contractors’ frontline management staff have been required to wear body cameras during public works inspections.

Linn said the government and the council would continue to communicate with the industry and hoped to introduce the body camera requirement for frontline construction workers responsible for certain critical procedures, to assist in inspection and enforcement.

Linn also said the Development Bureau would soon submit proposed amendments to the Buildings Ordinance – including tighter registration rules and tougher penalties for professionals and contractors conducting building works – to the legislature’s development panel.

She added that the government would also look into amending the composition of professionals’ registration boards.