Workers Registration Centre Safety Training Programme
Given the relatively high accident rate in Hong Kong SAR and keen to take a leadership role in promoting safety in the territory, Gammon Construction established a Workers' Registration Centre in 2004, the first of its kind in the construction industry in Hong Kong.
This aimed to raise safety awareness among construction workers and change their behaviour to prevent accidents by providing actual site situation scenarios and training courses, tailored to the needs of frontline workers.
All participants, including subcontractor employees, are required to participate in a half-day programme before being permitted to work on any Gammon sites. Almost 90% of their time is spent outdoors in simulated risk activities and hazardous situations including confined space, excavation trench, work platform and use of electrical equipment.
From the opening of the Centre to the end of 2006, more than 36,000 workers have attended the training resulting in a 43% decline in accidents from an accident frequency rate of 14.7 per 1,000 workers in 2004 to 8.4 in 2006. Encouraging feedback was received from the participants and this has reinforced Gammon's commitment to a continued improvement in enhancing "step change in safety".