HONG KONG, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Safety performance in Hong Kong construction sector continued to improve in the first quarter this year with the number of accidents standing at 778, said an official of economic development and labor department Thursday.

    The figure fell 23 percent compared with 1,010 in the same period last year. The accident rate per 1,000 workers also dropped22.3 percent from 60.6 to 47.1, said Matthew Cheung, permanent secretary for the department.

    Cheung said at the Award Presentation Ceremony of the Construction Safety Day that compared with 1989, the accident rateper 1,000 workers has now dropped by a hefty 87.4 percent.

    He said there has been sustained and marked improvement in the occupational safety and health performance over the past few years with the collective efforts of all parties concerned. The number of occupational injuries dropped from 47,023 in 2002 to 42,022 in 2003, down 10.6 percent, while the accident rate per 1,000 workersdropped from 19.2 to 17.7, down 8.1 percent.

    The number of industrial accidents dropped from 6,239 in 2002 to 4,367 in 2003, a significant decrease of 30 percent. The accident rate per 1,000 workers also fell from 85.2 percent to 68.1 percent.

    "This means that the chance of injury has reduced sharply from more than one-third to less than one-twentieth," said Cheung.

    Cheung said that the department had strengthened co-operation with the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies. The department has put in place a new reporting mechanism to acquire maintenance schedules of estates and commercial buildings as early as possible for follow-up actions on safety matters.

    He noted that contractors will risk being barred from tenderingfor public works projects because of its poor safety performance, and 11 contractors have so far been barred from tendering this year. Enditem