Ir Anthony Kwong, Chairman of the BD Division (L) and Ir Kevin Man, Chairman of the SSC (R) presented souvenirs to speaker Dr Daron Leung (middle)

Lifting safety in high-rise building construction is one of the major elements of construction. The speaker, Dr Daron Leung, began the webinar by introducing the current statutory regulations and code of practice which set out guidelines and requirements for construction lifting.

Lifting accidents in high-rise buildings can be divided into three main categories: erection and dissembling, in-operation and extreme weather. The 11 most common causes of lifting accidents in high-rise buildings are overloading, failure of the lifting appliance, poor maintenance of the lifting appliance, failure of the lifting gear, improper use of the lifting gear, operator error, mechanical part failure, improper rigging, load packing failure, miscommunication and weather.

The webinar also covered the limitations and constraints of lifting in high-rise construction. Limited space for operations, particularly in some redevelopment sites with adjacent buildings, crowds of people and traffic in the urban area, tight construction periods and multiple operations being carried out on the construction site at the same time on different levels, all of which can affect lifting safety and the implementation of a proper lifting plan.

In order to lift safely, a proper lifting plan should be prepared. This should include skilful workers (such as operators, riggers and competent signalmen), personal safety consideration, personal protective equipment, the environment (such as wind, typhoons, rain, lightning, lighting, noise), barricades (such as lifting zones, affected areas, pedestrian and traffic control, banksman), control (such as a report and command protocol, and who is in charge), communications (such as means, channel, language), emergency (to prepare for the ‘what ifs’), and workshop training and briefing (to ensure everyone understands).

Finally, extreme weather precaution planning should be considered when lifting. This should include prompt response to the actual site situation, paying attention to changes of weather and wind speed, checking whether the slew brake has been released, and paying attention to the angular position of the jib.

The webinar attracted over 280 participants. The BD Division was grateful for Dr Leung’s presentation and the support from members of the Institution.

The participants in front of the Hong Kong Palace Museum

The captioned visit was successfully organised by the BD Division on 18 December 2021. The site tour was led by the representatives from the project construction company, Mr Wang Yong and his team, from China State Construction Engineering (CSHK).

To start the visit, Mr Wang and his team, gave a presentation on the design concept and background of the project.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum is an important art and cultural facility situated in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD). It exhibits artefacts from Beijing's Palace Museum. A Hong Kong architecture firm, Rocco Design Architects, was directly appointed to design the museum, which is poised to offer a fresh and contemporary interpretation of traditional aesthetics, drawing inspiration from art and architecture, as well as the urban environment of Hong Kong.

Mr Wang stated that the main challenges of the project were the construction of the high-quality fair-faced concrete, the composite columns, the unique 3-dimensional curved aluminum cladding for the external façade and the COVID situation.

The project team utilised BIM modelling to enhance the design of the aluminum cladding, conducted clash analysis for the embed and supporting frames, simulated the loading path of the mainframe to the cladding, and issued fabrication drawings for manufacturing the panels. Mr Wang and his team also set up a Smart Site Control Center and adopted Artificial Intelligent (AI) for the site management, safety management, environmental management during the construction process.

After the presentations, the participants were led on a site walk to review the interior fitting-out works and facade works. The aluminium façade was also showcased to the participants.

On behalf of the participants, we would like to express our sincere thanks to the project construction team and the Division members for arranging this fruitful and memorable visit.