Following the death toll, Hong Kong may use drones to enforce workplace safety from next year

Deputy Labor Commissioner Vincent Fung Hao-yin told a meeting of the legislature’s human resources panel on Monday that the government would increase the use of technology to improve safety.

“The construction industry in the area of ​​occupational safety is characterized by a relatively large number of incidents. When we look at our data, such as inspections or staff deployment, we spend over half of our resources on this industry and the other half on all other industries,” he said.

“Our department is considering building our fleet of aerial photography drones and using the collected images to create three-dimensional photorealistic models that will facilitate evidence collection and law enforcement operations,” Fung said.

The drones – or what the department calls “small unmanned aerial vehicles” – could become operational in the second half of next year, he said.

According to the Department of Labor, five of the 11 workplace fatalities in the first half of 2024 occurred in the construction industry. These accidents included two cases of “exposure to or contact with a harmful substance”, two cases of “struck by a falling object” and one case of “entrapment in or between objects”.