The number of workplace fatalities in Hong Kong reported to the Labour Department (LD) went down last year after being on the uptrend since 2018, with the finance and insurance, real estate, professional and business services industry having the highest number of deaths, according to official data released on Wednesday.

Answering a query at the Legislative Council, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han provided data which showed that the LD recorded 244 fatal cases reported under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO) last year, down from 297 in 2023.

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The number of reported workplace fatalities had been increasing from 199 in 2018 to 223 in 2019, 226 in 2020 to 250 in 2021, and 254 in 2022 to 297 in 2023.

Last year, the finance and insurance, real estate, professional and business services industry had 71 fatal cases, down from 94 workplace deaths reported in 2023 and in 2022.

The construction sector came in second with 51 deaths last year, up from 47 fatalities reported in 2023 and 41 in the previous year.

The transportation, storage, postal and courier services, information and communications industry had 38 workplace deaths in 2024, also down from 50 in 2023.

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Sun said the department has collaborated with the Occupational Safety and Health Council to launch the OSH Star Enterprise - Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition (RMAA) Safety Accreditation Scheme to provide subsidies to small and medium-sized enterprises in the RMAA sector to help them procure safety devices.

The program would also assist them establish a safety management system, offer training on work-at-height safety, and conduct safety audits, he added.

Sun also said that the LD would continue to monitor employers' compliance with the requirement of taking out EC insurance and will consider whether to amend the relevant penalties under the ECO as required.