Six construction workers died Sunday when an overloaded work platform plunged 20 floors inside an elevator shaft of the International Commerce Centre - the worst industrial accidentin a decade.

The tragedy shocked the community and the government. The developer of the project has been working with the authorities to provide assistance to the bereaved families.

What immediately came to our mind was: how did it happen?

So far there has been no official explanation.

One may wonder: Did the work platform supplied by the contractor meet the requirements required by law? Had sufficient safety measures, such as the use of safety belts, been adopted? If safety belts were provided, were the workers wearing them at the time of the accident? Was the material put on the platform too heavy? Why were the workers covered by mud after falling to the bottom of the shaft? Were there too many workers on the platform? Were there safety officers on duty at the scene to supervise?

The authorities must find out the answers to all these questions in the ensuing investigation and give the community satisfactory explanations.

Just two hours after the accident, Chief Executive Donald Tsang visited the site. He was accompanied by other principal officials such as Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung and Secretary for Development Carrie Lam.

The chief executive expressed his condolences to the deceased workers' families and instructed the Social Welfare Department and the Labour Department to provide all the necessary service and aids to them.

All this was carried out in a timely manner, showing that the government's crisis management mechanism has been working well and deserves credit.

Developer Sun Hung Kai's swift promise of HK$1 million relief payment to the bereaved family of each deceased worker demonstrated that the company is a responsible employer.

The crash of the platform was indeed a most unfortunate incident, but it is by no means an indication that the conditions of industrial safety in Hong Kong are out of control.

In recent years, the authorities have made serious efforts in numerous areas, including legislation, law enforcement, education and publicity, to promote the concept and supervision of industrial safety.

Compared with other countries and areas in the region, industrial accidents in the SAR actually are declining in numbers over the years.

According to the Labour Department, the annual figure for the construction sector has plummeted from close to 20,000 ten years ago to 3,042 by the end of 2007.

But for industrial accidents, as the chief executive put it, one is too many.

The accident happened inside Kowloon's new landmark, which is under construction. The developer, Sun Hung Kai, is one of the biggest and most reputable enterprises in the city. Yet the mishap serves as testimony to the fact that there are loopholes in the industrial safety systems and fatal traps still exist in construction sites.

The first lesson we have learnt from this tragedy is that government departments concerned must step up their supervision of industrial safety.

Besides, employers and management must pay more attention to the corporate culture of industrial safety and strictly enforce the safety systems.

It takes years to develop such a corporate safety culture, which must start with education of new employees. Enterprises ought to update their safety education and training regularly in order to keep abreast of facilities upgrades, changes of working environments and the rise of safety standards.

Workers' industrial safety concepts must advance with the times, and it is necessary to remind them of the need to work safely at the beginning of each working day.

The author is a commentator of the Phoenix Satellite TV

(HK Edition 09/15/2009 page1)