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Wynna Wong

Two workers died in fatal industrial accidents about an hour apart in Hong Kong on Friday, prompting urgent calls for better safety regulations.
An 18-year-old worker was carrying out maintenance work on an escalator when he fell into the machinery under one of the landings at the Euro Trade Centre in Central in the afternoon.
Police responded after receiving a call at 2.13pm, and officers suspected the worker lost his footing.
He was already unconscious and had sustained multiple injuries when he was found by firefighters. The worker was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital, where he was later confirmed dead.
The case has been classified as an industrial accident and handed over to a Central police district crime squad for further investigation.
A source identified the teenager as Lo Ching-leung, an employee at Japanese electronics maker Hitachi and a student at the Vocational Training Council.
Lo was conducting a routine inspection with four other colleagues between the second and third floor of the building when the escalator suddenly began to move, according to the insider.
The second incident occurred about an hour later. According to the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, a 57-year-old labourer was painting on a raised platform at a construction site on Ying Tung Road in Tung Chung when the machine was suspected of malfunctioning.
He was pressed into the ceiling and sustained multiple injuries across his upper body.
The worker was taken to North Lantau Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4.41pm.
The Housing Department said the site in question was a public housing project in Area 99 of Tung Chung. It said workers had been performing painting on a lift platform while wearing safety harnesses when the accident occurred.
It is essential for [the Labour Department] to uphold workers’ rights, especially regarding workplace safety
Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union
The contractor, Yau Lee Construction Company, has been temporarily suspended from the work.
The department said it would review the safety conditions for similar work at other government sites and arrange a meeting with the contractor as soon as possible to request a detailed investigation report.
It would also order safety management measures to be strengthened to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
The Labour Department said staff were deployed to the scenes of both incidents and would take follow-up action.
The Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union said it was deeply shocked by the incident and urged the industry to “learn from these tragic lessons and conduct comprehensive safety inspections immediately”.
It also called on authorities to conduct in-depth investigations and to release the findings.
“The Labour Department must seriously learn from these lessons and promptly review regulatory and enforcement gaps to strengthen oversight and inspection efforts,” it said.
“Furthermore, it is essential for the department to uphold workers’ rights, especially regarding workplace safety, to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.”
The two incidents on Friday followed a string of at least four others in recent weeks, including one involving a 44-year-old man who plunged to his death from a factory building in To Kwa Wan on November 4.
Three days later, a 37-year-old worker fell to his death at the Hong Kong International Airport while working on the sixth floor of the T2 Concourse.
On November 11, a 41-year-old worker was crushed by a falling cage lift at a residential site, and the next day, a cleaning worker’s body was found floating in waters off Stonecutters Island public cargo area, where he was working an overnight shift.


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Hong Kong

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Worker maintaining escalator trapped in machinery in Central, painter is crushed into ceiling by malfunctioning raised platform


Worker maintaining escalator trapped in machinery in Central, painter is crushed into ceiling by malfunctioning raised platform.
