XN000022-1973-05-16 — Page 6

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Wednesday, May 16, 1973

He pointed out that last year's compensation bill was expected

to exceed the $4 million paid out to injured workers in 1971. But

this was only the tip of the iceberg.

Experience showed the total cost of accidents was as much as

10 times the amount paid out in compensation

▬▬

taking into account

such factors as loss of output by both the injured workers and other

workers; the time taken for investigation; administrative time taken to

deal with the matter; possible recruitment of new staff, and so forth.

And apart from accidents which involved injuries, there were

the huge number of accidents many of them never reported to the

management which damaged plant, equipment and property, raw materials

and semi-finished or finished work.

Mr. Szeto said managements were still inclined to think that the

responsibility for accident prevention rested solely with the

government.

But, he stressed, from both a moral and a business stand-

point, it was obviously a major management function.

"The total accident bill per year for the construction industry

will be in the region of $40 million", he said.

"For Hong Kong industry as a whole, the bill escalates to nearly

$150 million. And I must stress that this is a price we cannot afford to

pay,"

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