First batch of Construction Industry Council-procured scaffold netting reach HK
發佈日期: 2026-01-15 20:47
TVB News
Scaffolding meshes on buildings across the city currently undergoing major renovation works have been taken off for more than a month.
The first batch of 3,000 sets of scaffolding mesh nettings procured by the Construction Industry Council has arrived in Hong Kong.
After completing their testing, the nettings have been distributed to 11 contractors today.
The first batch of 3,000 mesh netting was manufactured at two factories in Jiangmen and Foshan on the mainland.
The batch was tested at the factories and delivered to the Hong Kong Institute of Construction in San Tin last Thursday, where the mesh quality was reviewed and confirmed to be flame retardant.
Following the schedule of various projects, the Construction Industry Council has distributed the nettings to 11 contractors for use in 19 projects in the afternoon.
Each netting costs about 170 dollars, which was about 70 dollars more expensive than the usual purchases by the contractors themselves.
The mesh also has a device with radio frequency or RF tracking functions that can be scanned to reveal its place of production, test reports and contractors.
Albert Cheng, Executive Director of the Construction Industry Council says in the past, some flame-retardant nets would cost 100 dollars. He adds that testing fees also make the netting slightly pricier than before, but notes that the costs to run tests are necessary expenses.
The Council says that it will continue to look for more manufacturers and set up a group of "white list" suppliers of the nettings. But the body says contractors can still make purchases by themselves.
Cheng says mainland authorities have a list of 49 factories recommended to provide safety products.
The Council will reach out to all 49 factories for procurement to Hong Kong.
A construction contractor representative says the scaffolding netting offered by the council -- given the quality -- was not that expensive.
This as they note the netting was made by fusing plastic pellets and flame retardant materials using a heat melting process, before being drawn into filaments and woven into safety nets.
Each strand is inherently flame retardant rather than relying on surface coating, which is why production costs are higher.
He says the difference in netting costs from the two suppliers used this time and other cheaper alternatives is just around ten thousand dollars for even tall buildings.
So he says it's not worth taking the risk to procure subpar meshes.
