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The ACP Construction Safety Award Scheme was introduced in 1993 to promote construction safety on the ACP works sites and to reducc accidents.
The Safety Management Award was presented to six sites with a high quality of safety management and with good safety records. The second award, the Safety Record Award, went to nine sites with good safety records.
ACP contractors had made considerable effort last year to improve safety on ACP sites. For instance, many ACP contractors have introduced safety incentive and penalty schemes and regularly publish newsletters and conduct talks to promote construction safety among their sub-contractors and workers, Mr Blake said.
He said last year, the Government had also made further effort to enhance ACP site safety. These included:
appointing more site supervisory staff dedicated to safety matters to strengthen monitoring of ACP contractors' activities;
appointing consultants to provide training to management and site supervisory staff to improve their safety awareness and upgrade their knowledge of construction safety;
setting up safety units in the works departments to provide safety advice and carry out audits of safety standards on government sites;
expanding the Labour Department's ACP team in enforcing safety legislation on ACP sites;
producing and distributing pocket-sized safety hint cards to workers and supervisory staff; and
introducing regulatory action against contractors who repeatedly violate safety legislation.
Mr Blake said it was pleasing to note that last year, about 50 per cent of the ACP contracts achieved the safety targets of zero fatalities and fewer than 60 reportable accidents per thousand workers per year.
"These contractors prove to all of us that the ACP safety targets, although much more stringent than the norm in Hong Kong, can in fact be achieved if given adequate priority and efforts," he said.