Builders face push to toe 4S safety and modular line

Rachael Ng

The SAR administration will pay closer attention to construction sites without a smart site safety system label during inspections, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said.

This came as 110 sites out of 350 applicants passed the safety assessment and received a 4S label indicating a safe working environment, Linn said in her blog yesterday.

The Development Bureau and the Construction Industry Council held a presentation ceremony of plaques for the 4S labeling scheme last Monday to the first batch of 110 sites.

The labels will be placed at conspicuous places outside sites for identification and convenient monitoring; the list of sites that have received the label will be uploaded to the bureau's webpage.

Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) Ricky Ir Lau Chun-kit said that 4S could "issue timely alerts to relevant site personnel to effectively prevent serious accidents, while facilitating efficient management of construction progress."

The administration is pushing for construction site safety standardization with the scheme.

"Hong Kong's construction industry adheres to the innovative spirit of Luban culture and has actively promoted efficient construction methods in recent years," said Assistant Secretary for Development Lee Man-you. "Modular integrated construction components prefabricated in factories will be transported to the construction site and assembled into buildings to improve construction site productivity.

Linn also said Hong Kong is committed to quality certification for MiC, thereby promoting the complementary advantages of the construction industry between Guangdong and Hong Kong.

She hopes that through cooperating with the country's high-quality development policy, the Greater Bay Area will become a MiC innovation center.

The bureau, together with the Guangdong department of human resources and social security and the ministry of housing and urban-rural development, announced the first GBA standards for trial types of work to be implemented within the next year, creating a basis for the "one examination, multiple certification" system.

Employees will be issued skills certificates for related work types in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, depending on the assessment institutions. They will not be assigned to the place where they were certified.

Assistant Secretary for Development Marjory Leung Yuen-hei believes the system will "help improve the technical level and exchange of talents in the Greater Bay Area."