Resonsibilities imposed on contractors by Regulation 2 of the Case Study

Resonsibilities imposed on contractors by Regulation 2 of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations - Case Study Example This research aims to evaluate and present the responsibilities imposed on contractors by Regulation 2 of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations. Construction is considered amongst one of the most dangerous land based activities in the working sector of Japan. Although the working population in the construction sector is only about 10%, it still accounts for 30% of the work casualties and 40% of the fatalities in Japan. Hong Kong has the highest construction hazard rates. Falls from height, crashes, excavation accidents, being hit by an object etc are common construction hazards. Even after the rate dropped from 350 per 1000 workers in mid 1980 to 60 per 1000 workers in 2007, it still accounted for nearly 20% of all the industrial accidents in Hong Kong. To attain a level of zero fatalities while on construction sites, has been set as a political goal by the government of Japan. Hong Kong has had a very poor safety record. The lack of awareness/low level of education of the cons truction workers, multi level subcontracting, high mobility of workforce etc can be considered prime reasons for theses construction hazards amongst others. Even though Hong Kong has passed its own laws and ordinances to help decrease the number of fatal accidents in the construction working sector, it will only have an impact depending on how it is enforced. Mr John Wu, an architect, signed a contract with Hung Ki Dvelopment company to design and develop a 50 storey building. Mr Wu then assigned Lap Ming Ltd to be the contractor for the builder work, which will take up to 85% of the total contract sum for the formation of the building. Since the scenario doesn't specify, we will make the assumption that the architect John Wu entered a contract with Sunny Construction Ltd, specialist contractors for the building services works. Building services engineers are responsible for the design, installation, operation and monitoring of the mechanical, electrical and public health systems re quired for the safe, comfortable and environmentally friendly operation of modern buildings2. Lap Ming Ltd then signed a subcontract with Star Decorator Ltd, also specialist contractors, to complete the internal decorations. The construction work began on 2.10.03 after the application was approved by the building authorities, submitted by Lap Ming. On 1.8.05, the operations of the building works and the internal decorations were in full swing when the foolish behavior of Chan Sam, led to a fatal accident of a casual worker. Chan Sam, a direct employees of the fire services subcontractor, used an excavator to move some iron piping to a workplace near the pump house on ground floor level. He was being accompanied by a female worker, and in order to entertain her, he drove the excavator in a zigzag manner. Suddenly the iron bars swung out, and fell near a moving lorry, being driven by Mak Sam, who was lowering the tiles needed for the internal decorations. The sudden loud noise sent Ma k Sam into a shock, causing him to lose his balance and accidently push the wrong control lever, which resulted in the crane to move in some other direction and hit the head of a casual worker, Li Yick, who was pronounced dead upon his arrival to the hospital. Both the workers from the builder services (Cham Sam) and the internal decorators (Mak Sam) are directly involved in this accident. According to our assumption, Sunny builder services were hired by the architect John Wu, upon clients request, and the internal decorators Star Ltd entered into a subcontract with Lap Ming Ltd, making both John Wu and Lap Ming to be indirectly involved with the accident. Since Hung Ki was assigned to overlook the construction of the building, he is also indirectly involved. Mr John Wu is just an architect by profession, his job is to design the