The Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims on Monday called for more safety education as it revealed a concerning trend in workplace fatalities and sudden deaths in Hong Kong. The group reported 76 fatal workplace accidents across all sectors as of Monday this year, with nearly half registered in the construction industry. Forty cases were classified as "sudden death at work", which were double the total figure from last year. "Safety awareness is lacking not only in the industry but also in Hong Kong society as a whole," said Venus Cheuk, an organiser from the association. She told RTHK that pre-employment training alone is insufficient to address the issue, adding that safety education should begin from childhood. "Because since childhood, we have had a deficit in safety education, which naturally hindered the development of a safety mindset," she said. The group's chief executive, Fay Siu, felt that the penalties meted out to some employers convicted of breaching the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance lacked deterrent effect. She said apart from fines, there should also be jail terms for offenders in some serious cases. Separately, the association said six deaths or serious industrial accidents occurred during the construction of the airport's third runway system, with some taking place at night. In response, the Airport Authority said it has always adhered to the highest construction safety standards, adding that the accident rate for the third runway system project was 6.41 per thousand workers, much lower than the industry average.
