Hong Kong's Bamboo Scaffolding Supports a Risky High-Wire Act

So has been a bamboo scaffolding worker since age 11, but he doesn't want his son going into the trade.

"It's too dangerous," So said.

Critics say safety standards are too often ignored.

Ideally, bamboo used for scaffolding should be 3 to 4 years old. But many farmers sell bamboo when it barely reaches 2 years old and its strength is not fully developed.

"There's nothing wrong with the material itself, but the government has been too lenient toward employers who fail to care about the safety of their workers," said Chan Kam-hong, a registered safety officer who works as an advocate for victims of industrial accidents.

The government sees no need to change its rules.

"Bamboo scaffolding is an appropriate and safe construction method if the contractors and employees work in accordance with the government's codes of practice," said Labor Department spokeswoman Winnie Siu.

Siu declined comment on safety violations that can be seen all over town. She said officials perform spot checks on construction sites and sometimes prosecute contractors, although no figures are available.

Builders say bamboo costs about 6% of the price of a similar length of steel scaffolding. It can be erected six times faster than steel and requires ordinary laborers, not the heavy machinery needed to put up steel scaffolding, they say. Dismantling it is 12 times faster.

Still, 24 people died here last year from falls, mostly from buildings.

It is unclear how many were scaffolding workers. No such statistics are kept. But the deaths from falling equaled more than half the number of fatalities in construction, where Hong Kong suffers more than 90% of its industrial accidents.

The government insists accidents are declining--by 32% from 1998 to 1999--thanks largely to improved safety awareness. Longer-term figures are not available because officials kept their records differently before 1998.

However, construction activity was slowing then amid a serious recession, which Chan says may partially explain the drop in accidents.

Whatever the number, Chan says people who fall suffer the most serious workplace injuries--skull fractures, loss of arms and legs, all too often death.

Nonetheless, workers say following the safety rules can make their job too awkward and slow, forcing them to miss deadlines.

If a safety belt is tied to the building, workers find it hard to move around. Tying it to the bamboo can pose problems: Sometimes the entire netting falls.