Construction Industry COVID-19 Testing Service Scheme (CITS)

Introduction:

The raging COVID-19 epidemic worsens. To further strengthen the prevention of virus at construction sites, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Hong Kong Construction Association (HKCA) with the support from the Development Bureau of the HKSAR Government, will jointly launch “Construction Industry COVID-19 Testing Service Scheme” (the Scheme) on 22 December 2020 (Tuesday). The CIC and the HKCA will share part of the service expenditures, whereas developers / main contractors will only need to pay a partial basic testing fee, so as to provide the nucleic acid COVID-19 testing services to construction workers and site staff who voluntarily join the Scheme, with a view to saving time and resources to collect and return the specimen, facilitating frontline workers to get tested, ensuring their safety and health, as well as protecting their families.

Procedures:

• The institution will contact main contractors / responsible persons of construction sites one week prior to the scheduled testing date to confirm the number of participants and arrangements such as conducting site inspection.
• On the testing day, the institution will set up a mobile specimen collection station and arrange staff to manage the registration for the participating construction workers and site staff as well as verify personal information.
• Once the registration is completed, strictly complying the instruction on COVID-19 specimen collection according to the Centre of Health Protection, the institution will conduct specimen collection services by combined nasal and throat swabs for construction workers and site staff. Specimens will then be sent to laboratories for testing.
• After the completion of testing, participants whose test results are negative will be informed by SMS through their mobile phones. If any specimen tested shows a positive COVID-19 result, the specimen will be referred to the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health (DH) for a confirmatory test. Confirmed cases will be followed up and announced by the Centre for Health Protection of the DH. A full report of the testing results for that construction site will be provided to its respective main contractor within three working days after testing.

Fee:

Participating developers / main contractors will only require to pay a partial basic testing fee (each person HK$150 per time) for construction workers and site staff whereas other expenditures, such as professional testing team recruitment, mobile stations set-up, equipment delivery and all administrative work for implementing the Scheme, will be borne by the CIC and the HKCA. Participating developers / main contractors must make advance payment of 50% of the estimated testing fee and provide the cheque to the institution (made payable to the "Construction Industry Council - CITS") on the testing day. The remaining balance of the fee must be settled within 14 days after receiving the confirmation of the total testing fee.

Service Group:

At this stage, the Scheme is to focus on construction sites with a larger area and a higher number of employees for its high feasibility to set up mobile specimen collection stations. For construction sites in smaller scale, please contact us separately. Once it is determined that a mobile specimen collection at the requested construction site is feasible, assistance will be provided accordingly.

Application:

For the arrangement of the relevant services, the main contractors must complete and submit the following application form (Chinese version only) for sites which are interested in participating in the Scheme (Email address: CITS@cic.hk).  

Download Application Form

Application deadline: 31 January 2021

Testing Duration:

From 22 December 2020 to 31 March 2021

Specimen Taking Method

Healthcare professionals will take specimen by combined nasal and throat swab (“CNTS”) method on site. Specimen taking procedure can be reference to the following materials provided by the Centre for Health Protection of the DH and Information Service Department, HKSAR:

Procedure for collecting combined nasal and throat swabs

Video on Specimen Taking Procedure by Experts

Enquiry:

Hotline: 3199 7373 

Email: CITS@cic.hk 

The Construction Industry Council and the Hong Kong Construction Association reserve the right to modify or amend the Terms and Conditions from time to time.