Firm suspended from bidding for Hong Kong contracts after worker killed on site

Hong Kong authorities have temporarily barred a contractor from bidding for public road and drainage contracts following an accident in which a worker was killed by a falling steel beam at a site near the cross-border bridge to Macau and Zhuhai on Thursday.

The Development Bureau said on Friday that the temporary ban was effective immediately and it had ordered the contractor to conduct an independent safety audit and submit an improvement action plan.

The bureau said it would consider lifting the suspension once improvement measures were shown to be effective. It did not name the contractor.

But following Thursday’s accident, which also left another person injured, China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) said it was saddened by the death of the worker and was reaching out to the victims’ families to provide support.

In a statement on Friday, the bureau said that it had issued a notification to the contractor concerned, suspending it from tendering for public works contracts in the roads and drainage category with immediate effect.

“The contractor concerned has to conduct an independent safety audit to review its safety management system,” the bureau said.