The government has revealed that 16 contractors received a "poor" or "very poor" rating for site safety in quarterly performance reports between 2021 and 2025. In a written reply to the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn detailed the government's mechanism for monitoring site safety on public works contracts. Linn said when evaluating tenders, technical competence and past performance account for 40 to 50 percent of the overall score depending on project complexity, with site safety attributes making up about 30 percent of the technical score. Contractors are monitored through a quarterly performance assessment mechanism, with site safety as a key indicator, she said. If a contractor's accident rate exceeds 0.3 reportable accidents per 100,000 man-hours worked, their site accident record will be rated "poor". An accident involving serious bodily injury will result in an overall "poor" or "very poor" rating for the entire site safety performance attribute, while a fatal accident will automatically trigger a "very poor" rating. Data showed that one contractor was rated "poor" in 2023, while seven others were rated "very poor" in the same year – the highest number during the five-year period. The figure for "very poor" ranged from one to three in other years. In serious cases,...
Read full articleIn an age of AI-induced answers to complex mathematical problems, Chinese mathematician Sun Zhiwei maintains that curiosity and asking good questions are more important then ever. Over a career spent probing the edges of number theory, Sun, a 61-year-old professor at Nanjing University’s department of mathematics, has built a vast landscape of problems – more than 1,000 and counting – for the global research community to tackle. While traditional mathematical training emphasises mastering...
Star Ferry fares are set to rise by as much as HK$1.80 (23 US cents) from January after Hong Kong authorities endorsed the operator’s application for an increase, taking the cost of a weekend cross-harbour trip to up to HK$8.30. The operator, which last raised its fares in 2023, applied in March to increase charges on its two franchised routes by between 80 HK cents and HK$2 per journey. Under a proposal approved by the Executive Council last Tuesday and announced on Wednesday, fares for the...
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An entire generation was almost wiped out when 150,000 tons of coal waste slid down the hillside into the village before engulfing Pantglas Junior School on October 21 1966.
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The boy, who also had dark thoughts about his 'hatred for women', approached his innocent victim in a corridor while wearing a mask and plunged the blade into her back.
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