Chan Siu Fan

Chan Siu Fan had worked as a driver in a scaffolding company for over a year on friend's referral. He got into contact with scaffolding masters and learned scaffolding in leisure time out of curiosity. In 1991, Chan Siu Fan asked his boss to let him learn scaffolding and his boss approved his request. He however had to continue his job as a driver. Chan Siu Fan had formal training with a master for half a year, after which he did scaffolding as an acting master and worked as a subcontracted worker at another company. A year later he returned to the first scaffolding company and formally became a master. Back then there was no registration requirement for a master. Having been a master for 2 or 3 years, he started up his own company, Chan’s Scaffolding Works, in 1996. It took Chan Siu Fan 5 years from being trained to become a master to having his own company. Chan’s Scaffoldingset off as a small operation. Chan Siu Fan had to do everything and engaged his senior apprentice fellows to work for him. His startup capital included the first installment for a new truck, which was then repaid in monthly installments. At the beginning, he looked for job orders throughthe personal network he built when working at the first scaffolding company as well as from the referrals through the other veteran masters. He adopted his former boss' work philosophy : Don't care about losses and be accountable for your work. It brought him more business opportunities after he founded his own company, which allowed him to gain more reputation day by day. People know each other in the sector of scaffolding and word-of-the-mouth was the best form of promotion.

Chan Siu Fan became a master after completing training in 1 year, an unusually short time span for apprenticeship. He apprenticed by observing the work styles of different masters. Chinese masters tended to conceal certain skills from their apprentices. The level of skills an apprentice could achieve depended on his hard work and relationship with his master. A master would teach his follower all he knew if he found him eager to learn. The most crucial work skills of scaffolding was the way of setting up bamboo poles. It was important for an apprentice to learn the choice of bamboo strips and the positions of bamboo poles . An apprentice had to observe, learn and ask on his initiatives. Competition among the senior and junior apprentices had positive effect: they were encouraged to build a scaffold at a faster pace and with better skills.

New scaffolding companies usually took up small projects like building hanging scaffolds for maintenance projects. The first project Chan’s Scaffolding took up was to build scaffolds for the expansion work of 19 schools. This project laid a solid foundation for the development of Chan’s Scaffolding's career and financial condition. The school campus expansion projects were opened to tenders by construction companies holding Licence C. Chan Siu Fan got to know one of these construction companies when apprenticing at the scaffolding company which had connection with this construction company. He was able to obtain the scaffolding job through the referral of this construction company. Chan’s Scaffolding had a limited start-up capital. The construction company paid for the scaffolding materials first. Since starting up his company, Chan Siu Fan had been in constant contact with his training master, and was careful of not to come into competition with him. If a company who used to work closely with his training master referred him a job order, he would ask the companies to try other companies. Only when they couldn’t find a good partner elsewhere would he accept these offers. Later on, Chan’s Scaffolding took up government outsourced maintenance projects in the five districts in the New Territories (namely Shatin, Tai Po, Fanling, Sheung Shui and Tuen Mun). Through these projects, Chan Siu Fan further expanded his personal network. Now he is still taking up works in the Northern District. Chan’s Scaffolding's workers were mainly Chan Siu Fan's senior and junior apprentice fellows and the workers he knew of when he was a subcontracted worker. Chan’s Scaffolding completed the small projects on its own but sub-contracted the bigger ones to other subcontractors, and supplied the sub-contractors with materials. (editor's note: Licence C is now issued by the Works Branch of the Development Bureau to recognized contractors for public works eligible to take up public construction works from the Hong Kong Government)

Chan Siu Fan observed that his company, Chong Fat Scaffolding, had to bear higher operation costs while the project charges remained the same. He coped with this difficulty by getting more project orders at lower charges while improving the operational efficiency with the aid of modern equipment. For example, during Chan Siu Fan's apprenticeship, a hanging scaffold was charged $2,000 while in the year 2000 he only asked for $1,200. In those years it took a master and an apprentice half a day to make a hanging scaffold, i.e. two could be made one in a day. Today the masters have to make 4 or 5 hanging scaffolds in one day. At first, Chan’s Scaffolding stored the bamboo poles near hillsides, under the flyovers or other unattended places, where the bamboo poles were tied together with metal chains. Nowadays Chan’s Scaffolding had to pay rentals for an abandoned pig farm in Yuen Long for storing bamboo poles, which are properly covered by large sheets of canvass. The company has to pay for dumping useless bamboo poles, which would usually be transferred reclamation works. Chan’s Scaffolding has operated in the office in Fo Tan for 5 or 6 years, and now has 4 trucks and 4 teams of workers. Each team comprises of a leader and 4-5 workers. One of the workers is an apprentice (also called mid-level worker) and the others are all masters. Workers of similar capability are grouped together. The daily work flow is as follows: workers are informed by phone between 4-5 pm of the work arrangements the following day. On the day of work, Chan Siu Fan has breakfast with his team at a local café restaurant to review the work done yesterday and decide on any improvement measures. Next the workers were led by their group leader to get to the work site for that day. As an employer and the head of the company, Chan Siu Fan is responsible  for finding and scheduling job orders. Chan’s Scaffolding currently has over 20 long-term masters, but they are not permanent employees. They were employed on casual basis when a project kicks off. Apprentices are fewer in number. They were employed as permanent workers, and would be promoted to masters had they worked for 1 to 2 months with satisfactory performance. Those who failed to become masters will naturally be drained away as they don’t find good prospect in the company.

Every peak season sees a severe drain of masters as they went to take up subcontracting projects from different companies. They could earn more money from working for subcontracting projects than being a permanent worker receiving monthly salary. During peak season, Chan’s Scaffolding contracted out its projects and sometimes even supplied materials and trucks to the subcontractors. These subcontracting projects were usually taken up jointly by his masters. In this way, Chan’s Scaffolding can retain its masters and have sufficient manpower to work for the new projects. Scaffolding workers are highly mobile. Some of them enjoy changing work environments. The government intended to discourage the practices of subcontracting in construction projects and prefers the contractors to employ workers on monthly salary. But Chan Siu Fan didn’t think it practical because most workers prefer to work for subcontracting projects with more flexibility. It takes time for the workers to accept fixed employment. The MPF Scheme specially designed for the construction field works like this: employers deposit their part of contribution directly into a worker’s MPF account according to the number of days he had worked for. Because of this, the employer had to prepare a lot of documents. What Chan’s Scaffolding does is to ask every employee to fill out an employment form providing his MPF account number, copies of credential documents, bank account number, contacts in case of emergency, etc. The documents are carefully filed. At the same time each employee was given a permanent staff number to be used in daily operation. With these records, the information of an old staff can be updated and there is no need for workers to re-register if there are changes in their profile.

A ""master card"" is a skilled scaffolding worker card issued by the Construction Industry Training Authority (CITA), which also gives accreditation to qualified apprentices. Chan Siu Fan thought that a master in the field might not be able to meet the requirement of a skilled worker card; however, a mid-level worker, a worker not recognized as a master in the scaffolding sector, with good performance could get this card. Conversely, a worker holding a skilled worker card might not be regarded by Chan’s Scaffolding as a master. Chan’s Scaffolding assesses the qualification of a master from his work of a completed scaffold. Chan Siu Fan used to assess the new workers himself. Now the team leaders and the masters in the same group report to him the performance of a new worker. CITA provides basic training to workers, who are granted a skilled worker card upon completion of the course. Different companies in the field independently assess the level of a master with their own standards. One can use the proverb “national laws versus family rules” to describe the different standards held by CITA and scaffolding companies. Chan Siu Fan thinks that Chan’s Scaffolding's assessment standard is rather high and subjective. He requires a worker seeking to be a master to make a hanging scaffold within 2 hours which has to be firm, nice and refined . Other companies may simply require a candidate to construct a firm hanging scaffold within half a day. Chan Siu Fan wanted his staff not only to observe safety but also the outlook and pattern of a scaffold. Masters with traditional training always said that scaffolding is an art of work. Chan Siu Fan thought that workers should respect his own craftsmanship by making scaffolds that they themselves feel satisfactory.

In the old days, outstanding scaffolding workers would be crowned with such big names as ""Master of Masters"", ""Father of Masters"", ""Star of something"", ""Prince of Signs"", ""King of Ladder"" and ""Motor Hands"" by peers in the field. In recent years, machines are being used in scaffolding replacing manpower. Scaffolding companies has become more concerned about industrial safety as well. It is now hard for a worker to show off his skills and so the tradition of crowning with names no longer exists. Workers in the old days had to work hard during training to master the basic skills and the craftsmanship, because some people see scaffolding a form of art. Nowadays as construction projects are solely profit oriented, it is hard for workers to insist on preserving the crafts of scaffolding. The traditional craftsmanship is  vanishing day by day. Chan Siu Fan had met masters who were exceptionally good in certain areas. For example, a master could estimate heights with high accuracy by eyesight, while another master made all the scaffolds in a school with his hands . Scaffolding masters don't enjoy a long work life. They reach their peak at about 30 years old, and have to retire at about 50 as their competence declines gradually. There used to be a master who was able to build a hanging scaffold with only bamboo poles and bamboo strips. However, as Chan Siu Fan thought, this is already history. He did not regret about the loss of traditional craftsmanship because it had little practical value. Nowadays he still insists on building scaffolds of good shape. Scaffolding is an important aid for  construction and maintenance projects in densely populated buildings in Hong Kong. Scaffolding fits well with the situations here and was developed further in Hong Kong. On the contrary, this traditional skill in China, where it was originated, has faded out.

Metal scaffolds (made from metal pipes) come into existence for a long time. Both metal scaffolds and bamboo scaffolds are supportive tools that have the advantages of safety, cost and efficiency. A good metal scaffold and a good bamboo scaffold are different in these ways: metal scaffolds are safer and can support more weight. But bamboo scaffolds can be built in a shorter period of time and at a lower cost. It also provides greater flexibility for construction projects. Mixed scaffolds made from a combination of metal pipes and bamboo poles have now become more common on construction sites. These mixed scaffolds are lighter and less costly than metal scaffolds. When compared to bamboo scaffolds, they could support heavier loads . Scaffolders could estimate the weight a mixed scaffold would support which allows higher cost effectiveness. A mixed scaffold used metal pipes as the main support and bamboo poles as extensions and appendages. As the primary structure of a mixed scaffold is made of metal pipess, Chan Siu Fan regarded it a metal scaffold. Metal scaffolds and bamboo scaffolds are made in different ways. It takes a worker less time to learn to make a metal scaffold. The stability of a metal scaffold depends on the base, the balance of horizontal poles and the overall size. The length of all metal poles are usually fixed and so the making process is like compiling building blocks.  The method of making a metal scaffold is to join and fix the pipes by connectors and screws. The principle of making bamboo scaffolds is simpler but the method varies. The vital component to fix bamboo poles is the bamboo strips. Some workers in the field are able to make both types of scaffolds. Making bamboo scaffolds pays better, while the skills required are also more sophisticated. Workers sometimes have to hang like a bat when making bamboo scaffolds. Metal scaffolds are heavier and so demand more physical strength to make one. They are 3 times more expensive than bamboo scaffolds due to the higher cost of metal pipes. What's more, a worker can make fewer metal scaffods than bamboo scaffolds in one shift.

Scaffolds on construction sites in Hong Kong rarely last over 3 years. Worn out bamboo poles need mending. Minor mending is made in the first year and larger scale of mending in the second year. Rotten bamboos are removed and replaced. This is why bamboo scaffolding is appreciated with its flexibility. Chan Siu Fan had worked for maintenance project that had lasted for 3 or 4 years, and he had to replace scaffold poles in the course of the project. He had also worked for a small-scale project which lasted over a long period of time, during which he had replenished the scaffold thrice until the project was completed. Bamboo is a plant which can be decayed, so the workers have to be careful to pick strong poles for making a scaffold. In the past, it is stipulated by law that a scaffold has to be inspected by qualified persons each month to ensure its safety. A Form 5 would be issued for safe scaffolds after inspection. Nowadays it has to be inspected every 2 weeks.. Persons who are qualified to issue Form 5 have to be appointed by the company with certification and 10 years’ experience as masters. There are however no restrictive requirements for scaffolding companies. (editor's note: Form 5 is recognized by the Director of Labour Department for enforcing ""Construction Site (Safety) Ordinance"", Section 38F(1); one shift means 8 hours of work. Every 2 hours overtime work is also taken as one shift.)

Neither the workers’ union nor the merchants’ association is active in the scaffolding field. The primary function of the workers' union is to provide accommodation and job referrals to native fellows from the mainland who have not found jobs in Hong Kong. The merchants’ association was set up by a scaffolding company which had a long history of operation. Its major contribution was to help the smaller scaffolding companies to buy insurance covering worker’s compensation. Initially the First Pacific Company provided insurance services to scaffolding companies, but the services stopped later. Between the 1960s and 1970s, many small scaffolding companies were family-run, in which the husband made scaffolds, the wife passed bamboo poles and the son learned the skills. A couple of masters were hired on casual basis to do larger projects.  They could not afford to buy insurance themselves, nor could they pay the compensation when their workers were injured. Therefore the merchants’ association negotiated with the insurance company to set up an industry-based insurance plan which covered the compensation of 10 injured workers each year. Scaffolding companies participating in this plan a fee to the merchants’ association who paid a lump sum of premium to the insurance company. Scaffolding companies paid the prescribed fee to the merchants’ association one day before they started their work project. The insurance is not to cover the protection of a particular worker but to cover the compensation of a fixed number of injured workers whose companies had paid the fee to the merchants’ association. In this way, the family business could relieve from the burden of buying expensive insurance and workers could obtain compensation if they were injured at work. 

When Chan Siu Fan founded Chan’s Scaffolding, insurance premium had expanded greatly. There were no more family-run companies and the kind of insurance plan offered by the merchants’ association no longer existed. Scaffolding companies bought insurance for their workers under its own plan. Now Chan’s Scaffolding pays over 200 thousand dollars to buy insurance for 4 scaffolding workers each year. Nowadays only the Bank of China Insurance Company takes up insurance from scaffolding companies. Each year the insurance company sets a quota. When the quota is fully used, the insurance company does not accept any more applications. Some scaffolding companies therefore join together in one insurance plan so as to fully utilize the quotas of compensation. The boss of a newly formed company (nicknamed the freshman) had to make scaffolds, but these self employed persons seldom bought insurance for themselves 

The more rules set up by the government, the fewer scaffolding companies could survive. The government once proposed the scaffolding companies to hire consultant engineers and to prepare scaffolding design sketches before starting the actual work. Such proposals were pending because there were oppositions from the field. Chan Siu Fan remarked that as scaffolding work is full of danger and hazard, the government will introduce regulations and monitoring measures once consensus is reached with the field. The competition for scaffolding projects is fierce and the government did not have full information of the number of companies. Hence it is hard for the government to enforce regulatory measures among the companies. The workers' union could do little to monitor the operation of the scaffolding field. Chan Siu Fan analysed that when an industry is in its beginning stage, there are lots of irregular practices. Therefore it is difficult to impose regulation upon a new industry. As the government tightens the rules step by step, only the fittest can survive. He believed that for scaffolding, the problem of a lack of regulated practices will continue for quite some time.               

In Chan’s Scaffolding Works, a master is able to perform many functions at one time. If he is capable and has good initiatives, he can be simultaneously a sub-contractor, a team leader, a company partner and a boss. A team leader can be a partner. In Chan’s Scaffolding, a partner will share their part of profit according to the proportion of shares they hold in the company. But to be a partner, the master has to change to be  monthly paid.

The salaries of scaffolding workers are standardized. Take Chan’s Scaffolding Works as an example, a master is paid $1,000 per shift, with an additional $100-200 for meals. An acting master (i.e. a worker who had finished apprenticeship but not yet recognized as a master) is paid $600-900 for each shift. Scaffolding workers are concerned more about autonomy than pay rate. If they find a work environment pleasant and they can get along well with the workmates , they don’t mind changing to a job with lower pay. Scaffolding requires team spirit. Workers will enjoy greater efficiency and more synergy if they can cooperate with each other. Therefore, Chan Siu Fan deliberately arrange workers into groups in which they can work well together. To join a scaffolding company, a worker had to find a referral by the company staff, and the salary scale is set. The company judges the skill level of the applicant from the way he sets the first piece of pole of a scaffold. Some companies look for new staff and invite business orders by advertising on the newspaper, but this is not a common practice. (editor's note: One shift of work is 8 hours and 2 hours of overtime work is equivalent to one shift)    

As far as Chan Siu Fan knows, the Construction Industry Training Authority (CITA) has accepted 2 to 3 female trainees, but they are now no longer working for scaffolding. Nowadays an interested individual may join the scaffolding sector through CITA or the referral of friends and masters. They have to start off at the lowest level. CITA offers a couple of training programmes in scaffolding skills each year. In the recent years there have been no more female students. The last female student at CITA changed from another programme to scaffolding . Public perception and other reasons discourage girls from joining scaffolding, for example, opposition from their parents, tough work, demands for physical strength and danger at work. When Chan Siu Fan was doing apprenticeship, he had worked with a female apprentice. He felt that the female apprentice fellow had good skill but she lacked the necessary physical strength. He thought that the work life of female scaffolders would not be long.  

In 2008, Chan’s Scaffolding Works accepted a subcontracting project of setting up scaffolds in Hong Kong Stadium. The contractor who was in charge of this subcontracting project was a master leading a team of over 10 men. This contractor, a former fellow apprentice of Chan Siu Fan, was experienced in managing large-scale scaffolding projects. Chan Siu Fan took part in project scheduling and management, and so he did not attend meetings every day. Nowadays Chan’s Scaffolding is focused on small-scale projects that needed not to be outsourced to other subcontractors. Chan’s Scaffolding sent its ownworkers and equipment to the work sites by truck. Chan Siu Fan thought this practice was more flexible. If he bid a large scale project like building scaffolds facing a surface area of thousands of square feet, he would also use the method of subcontracting. A subcontractor had its own team of workers and worked for subcontracting projects from different companies. The subcontractor earned a sum of payment for each project based on the amount of work done. The scaffolding company is responsible for preparing the scaffolding materials, work accident compensation and negotiations for project orders. Workers of subcontractor are casual workers paid on a daily basis. They don't have a fixed employer, nor do they join the MPF Scheme, which is an undesirable feature in this sector.

Chan Siu Fan believed that this undesired feature will be diminishing as more workers registered for the worker’s card and safety card; the government enforces more regulatory practices as the pay rolls of workers under government projects are paid by the Treasury. As a result, there will be good chances for workers to change to monthly paid employees. The government believes that the system of monthly salary is a good practice to keep workers in lower turnover rate and to ensure the quality of workers, companies and scaffolds. In Chan’s Scaffolding, the company submitted tax and revenue forms to the government but the workers did not want to have their records kept in government files. Chan Siu Fan estimated that casual labour and subcontracting accounts for 60-70% of the work force in the sector. Three years ago, Chan Siu Fan worked with a Polytechnic University’s professor in a survey involving over 1800 scaffolding companies in Hong Kong. Finally they found that it was hard to enumerate the actual size of the work force in the sector because most of the companies were not in stable shape and company registration was too casual and easy.