Welcome to Temporary Works Forum

Temporary Work is a significant cost element to projects and is usually safety critical.   It represents the biggest single risk in the construction industry and about 60% of deaths in the local industry are related to failure in temporary works.   Despite the high accident rates, there have been continuous failures of temporary works, some leading to fatalities and serious injuries to workers. 

In UK, the Temporary Works Forum was established in 2009 and they advocate to raise standards and awareness of proper and good practice in temporary works.   The problems faced by the local industry are similar.  There is a general lack of accepted code of practices and standard procedures for temporary works.  Much effort has been given to the design of permanent works and their control, but there is an inadequate attention on the temporary works.  The problem is further exacerbated with different clients having different requirements and perspective on temporary works.   More importantly, the labourers, whom they are actually building the temporary works and will be affected most in the event of accident, must understand and recognize the need to follow the procedures and good practice in erecting the temporary works. 

In 2017, the Hong Kong Temporary Works Forum Limited is also established, which pulls together enthusiastic managers and engineers together to do the same, taking full cognizance of challenges facing the local industry and workforce.   The construction industry, as a whole , should learn from the lessons and improve the construction practice to avoid tragic incident from happening.  The objective of the Hong Kong Temporary Works Forum Limited is a zero-accident construction industry.