Govt Urged To Reveal Details Of Crane Crash Charges

A labour sector lawmaker on Saturday urged the government to release details of the prosecutions over a fatal crane collapse.

The crane toppled onto containers at a Sau Mau Ping construction site last September, killing three workers.

The Labour Department said on Monday it had initiated 67 prosecutions, but Chau Siu-chung says the announcement was not detailed enough.

“Which companies are you prosecuting, and on what charges? No details are available to the public,” he says.

He says this is in contrast with how the government dealt with the prosecutions over the MIRROR concert incident, in which a giant video screen fell from height in last July.

On an RTHK radio programme, he said the department released a detailed report and prosecutions list over the MIRROR concert incident, but has provided incomplete information about the construction site crane collapse.

“Did this incident gain less public attention? Actually no. Three people died in this incident. The government should attach more importance to this incident. We highly suspect that the Labour Department [has not released the details] due to time constraints, as they instigated the prosecutions on the last day of the prosecution period. The prosecution period is six months.”

The government has introduced a bill to the Legislative Council to extend the time limit for prosecutions for occupational safety and health offences, from six months to nine months.

The bill committee has had nine meetings on the legal amendment, but has yet to reach a consensus and put the bill forward for a second reading debate.