Macau (MNA) – Construction and security experts told Macau News Agency they believe all entities involved in a construction project should share responsibility with regard to construction site security, as developers seem to lack knowledge of risk prevention.
Recently, the Macau SAR Standing Committee for the Co-ordination of Social Affairs announced that it has proposed that fines for hygiene and security infractions on construction sites be increased fivefold.
Infractions causing an injury would increase the new fines threefold, while infractions leading to death would incur fivefold fines.
For Harry Lai, the Vice President of the Macau Construction Association (MACAUCA) and CEO of Lai Si Construction & Engineering, a fine increase “wouldn’t make much difference” but that “it’s one of the only ways” to improve the situation, saying main developers for large casino projects are one of the main parties responsible for lack of oversight on construction sites.
“They sometimes have more than 3,000 workers on site at a time so sometimes the main contractor doesn’t pay much effort and attention to every individual worker. We’ve have several meetings of the Association where we discuss these issues,” he added.
According to the Managing Director of OMNIRISC Security (Macau), Ekraj Rai, the fine increase could “work as a deterrent but not as a solution”, with one of the main issues being the lack of knowledge by developers of risk mitigation strategies.
“The developers have their people for the construction but lack in terms of planning and response strategies […] They need to have detailed strategies, taking into account what government legislation is and this is what they need to do,” he added.
The security expert said MNA security companies hired by developers in Macau are mainly only concerned about access control and what people can access on the site.
However, Mr. Rai considered construction security matters could not just fall on the developer since the issue was about “shared responsibility”, and needing co-operation and coordination from the security, construction, health and safety inspectors sides and with the government.
“[Developers] need to work with different stakeholders on the construction site – fire safety, health and safety personel, and with the government. I don’t think they have that from what I know,” Mr. Rai told MNA.
Mr. Lai agreed with the committee proposal to increase the number of inspectors on construction sites, with the recent proposal suggesting a fixed number of inspectors that should be present on a construction site to assess hygiene and security conditions, calculated according to the number of workers.
“However, main constructers say during meetings they consider that the responsibility also falls on the workers, who are also responsible for themselves on site. When there’s an accident the company will get into trouble and the boss will have to pay the bill. You can’t look after someone 100 per cent,” Mr. Lai told MNA.
Mr. Lai agreed with the committee proposal to increase the number of inspectors in construction sites, with the recent proposal suggesting a fixed number of inspectors that should be present on a construction site to assess hygiene and security conditions, calculated according to the number of workers.
“However main constructers say during meetings they consider that the responsibility also falls for the workers , who are also responsible for themselves on site. When there’s an accident the company will get into trouble and the boss will have to pay for the bill. You can’t look over someone 100 per cent,” Mr. Lai told MNA.
