Safety First – Hong Kong Trip #1

December 31, 2007 at 12:02 am | Posted in itchy backside | Leave a comment
Tags: Culture, Hong Kong, Travel

Early this month while walking up the Mid-level escalator in Hong Kong, we saw something quite unusual.

One of the many tall concrete buildings there apparently was having some sort of face lift or maintenance. Close to two third of it was covered with scaffolding which instantly looked out of place. Why leh? Because of the material they used to build up the whole structure.

Over here, we used steel for the scaffolding. Workers need to use safety harnesses. But in Hong Kong, apparently they prefer something more natural…

Against the clear sky, the bizarre-looking scaffolding seems so surreal,
ever ready to engulf the entire building.

Can’t make out what did they use? A close-up may help…

Bamboos!

Yes, we all know that bamboo is strong. According to the guy supervising the project from where we were standing, he said the building is 30 storey high. So surely a building that tall deserves something sturdier? And their safety precautions looked so basic…but that didn’t stopped him from asking two of the guys on the lowest end to pose for us.

Hey what’s so interesting to look huh??

We stayed for quite a while, taking pictures and observing.  Debris was seen flying off towards the next building before hitting the ground. The guy must have felt uneasy and asked us why are we taking photos? “Just for fun lah.” Unconvinced by our answer, he started to tell us to stay further in case stones were to hit us. Ok lor…give way to other tourists who were also attracted and started to take pictures. But one last picture before moving on..:p 

Superheroes at work…

Ironically, just less than five minutes’ walk from this building, a poster was seen on the hoarding at another construction site…

Poster promoting safety precaution in construction site. Members of the
public can dial the hotline to report anyone breaking the regulations.

No wonder the guy got suspicious and chased us away!

May we salute all the construction workers and our very own Samsui Women for risking their lives building up the modern city!