Construction
Corruption in the construction industry often leads to substandard work, posing a serious threat to public safety, and undermining public confidence in the quality of works projects. It also incurs additional costs and delays for remedial works, ultimately eating into companies’ profit.
The Private Sector Integrity Centre (PSIC) offers free anti-corruption and integrity training to help construction practitioners stay vigilant against corruption risks and uphold high integrity standards. We also provide free corruption prevention advisory services and practical resources to help construction companies in strengthening internal safeguards and fostering a culture of integrity.
Corruption Risks
- Compromised staff accept advantages from colluding contractors or sub-contractors in the course of awarding contracts or works orders.
- Compromised staff accept advantages from colluding suppliers in the course of procuring construction materials.
- Unscrupulous staff accept bribes from tenderers in exchange for confidential information about tenders submitted by other tenderers.
- Compromised staff accept advantages for turning a blind eye to substandard works by contractors.
- Unscrupulous contractors provide contract cars for private use by site supervisory staff in return for favourable treatment in site supervision.
- Inspecting staff engage in improper conduct and practices (e.g. accepting frequent or lavish entertainment from contractors) while carrying out inspections outside Hong Kong.
- Site supervisory staff accept advantages in exchange for allowing contractors to use building materials not specified in contracts or to tamper with test samples.
- Compromised staff accept advantages from contractors in return for the early processing and release of payments for incomplete works.
- Compromised staff accept rebates from favoured contractors in exchange for issuing unnecessary variation orders or over-valued work orders.
- Unscrupulous site staff solicit advantages (e.g. ‘introduction fees’) from construction workers seeking appointment or continued employment.
- Compromised staff solicit rebates in exchange for allocating jobs to contractors or sub-contractors.
- The chairman of the tender assessment panel has a financial interest in a particular tenderer.
- The staff member responsible for drafting the specifications of a construction material tender document is a relative of the sole supplier of that material.
- The project clerk of works has a financial interest in a sub-contractor employed by the main contractor under his supervision.
- The project architect and site agent of the contractor are close personal friends.
- Supervisory staff over-socialise with contractors, e.g. by accepting frequent or lavish entertainment or engaging in high-stakes gambling.
Resources
Integrity Training
The Private Sector Integrity Centre (PSIC) offers free anti-corruption and integrity training to help construction firms build an ethical corporate culture and prevent corruption and fraud.
For Construction Companies
Contact us should you have further enquiries on arranging anti-corruption or ethics training.
PSIC organises webinars on the “PSIC Channel” for business practitioners across various sectors and industries. Click here to view details of the upcoming webinars and enroll now!
For Construction Professionals
Members of professional bodies may obtain continuing professional development (CPD) hours by attending seminars offered by PSIC.
The following professional bodies have arranged CPD seminars jointly with the PSIC:
- Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers
- Institution of Civil Engineers Hong Kong Association
- Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Hong Kong Chapter
- The Chartered Institute of Building (Hong Kong)
- The Hong Kong Institute of Architects
- The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors
- The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
- The Society of Operations Engineers (Hong Kong Region)
＊in alphabetical order of the names of the professional bodies
Click here to see our upcoming CPD seminars for construction professionals.
The following e-learning courses, jointly developed with the professional bodies, are available to construction professionals:
For construction workers
- Anti-corruption talks are incorporated in training courses of the Hong Kong Institute of Construction.
- User-friendly materials are available for self-learning:
Training Video on Illegal Introduction Fee (Cantonese Only)
“It is just not worth it” – Interactive webpage for construction industry
