Chapter 4 Safety and Health at Work

The Programme of Safety and Health at Work

www.labour.gov.hk/eng/osh/content.htm

4.1	The Occupational Safety and Health Branch is responsible for the promotion and regulation of safety and health at work. The objective of the Programme of Safety and Health at Work is to ensure that risks to people’s safety and health at work are properly managed and reduced to the minimum through the three-pronged strategy of inspection and enforcement, education and training, as well as publicity and promotion. More specifically, we achieve the objective by:
	•	providing a legislative framework to safeguard safety and health at work;
	•	enforcing compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (OSHO), the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (FIUO), the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance (BPVO) and their subsidiary regulations through inspection of workplaces to ensure that the requirements are complied with;
	•	investigating accidents and occupational health problems at workplaces and giving advice to employers and employees on how to reduce existing workplace hazards;
	•	offering advice to owners in the design and layout of workplaces, and in the implementation of safety programmes in workplaces;
	•	providing to employers, employees and the general public appropriate information and advice to promote knowledge and understanding of occupational safety and health (OSH); and
	•	organising promotional programmes and training courses to enhance safety awareness of the workforce.
4.2	The OSHO protects employees’ safety and health at work generally in all branches of economic activities. It is a piece of enabling legislation that empowers the Commissioner for Labour to make regulations prescribing standards for general working environment as well as specific safety and health aspects at work.
4.3	The FIUO regulates safety and health at work in industrial undertakings, which include factories, construction sites, cargo and container handling areas, as well as catering establishments.
4.4	The BPVO aims at regulating the standards and operation of boilers and pressure vessels, including steam boilers, steam receivers and air receivers.
Our Work and Achievements in 2019 Work Safety Performance
4.5	Through the concerted efforts of all parties concerned, including employers, employees, contractors, safety practitioners, and the Government and public sector organisations, Hong Kong’s work safety performance has been improving.
4.6	The number of occupational injuries in all workplaces in 2019 stood at 32 872, representing a drop of 21.6% from 41 907 in 2010, while the injury rate per thousand employees decreased to 10.8, down by 30.2% when compared to 15.5 in 2010. The number of industrial accidents for all sectors went down to 9 254, representing 34.0% drop when compared to 14 015 in 2010. The accident rate per thousand workers for all sectors decreased to 14.8, down by 40.8% when compared to 24.9 in 2010.
4.7	In 2019, there were 2 947 industrial accidents in the construction industry, representing an increase of 2.2% when compared to 2 884 in 2010. The accident rate per thousand workers, however, decreased from 52.1 to 29, down by 44.4%.
Occupational Diseases
4.8	In 2019, there were 442 cases of confirmed occupational diseases, among which occupational deafness, silicosis and tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm were the most common.
4.9	For more statistics on the OSH, please visit the webpage: www.labour.gov.hk/eng/osh/content10.htm.
Key Indicators of Work
4.10	Some key indicators of work of this programme area are shown in Figure 4.1.
Inspection and Enforcement
4.11	To ensure safety and health at work, we inspect workplaces, monitor health hazards, investigate work accidents and occupational diseases, register and inspect boilers and pressure equipment and advise on measures to control hazards and prevent accidents.
4.12	We conduct promotional visits to give advice to employers on the prevention of accidents and encourage them to proactively adopt a self-regulatory approach in managing risks at the workplace. We also conduct enforcement inspections to various workplaces to ensure that duty holders have observed relevant statutory requirements stipulated in safety legislation. We adopt a risk-based approach to adjust the intensity of inspection and enforcement efforts from time to time to effectively combat unsafe acts.
4.13	In 2019, we continued to place workplaces with poor safety performance under close surveillance. Improvement notices or suspension notices were issued when necessary to secure speedy rectification of irregularities, or to remove imminent risks to lives. In 2019, we also conducted 14 special enforcement operations targeting specific workplace hazards or workplaces with higher risk work processes, including new works; repair, maintenance, alteration and addition (RMAA) works; electrical works; bamboo scaffolding; sea-based construction works; waste management works; catering; logistic, cargo and container-handling industries as well as fire and chemical safety. In these 14 operations, a total of 17 701 workplaces were inspected, with 1 559 improvement notices and 212 suspension notices issued, and 1 041 prosecutions initiated. Besides, we launched 41 in-depth surprise inspections to work sites with higher risk processes or poor safety performance. A total of 924 suspension/improvement notices were issued and 414 prosecutions initiated. In order to enhance safety performance of public work projects, representatives of the Labour Department (LD) participated in 526 site safety management committee meetings of public work projects and safety advice, in particular concerning work processes with relatively high risk, were provided to the contractors and relevant duty holders.
4.14	We conduct investigations into complaints concerning unsafe conditions or malpractices in workplaces. In 2019, we handled 251 complaints lodged by workers and initiated 13 prosecutions arising from investigation of these cases. Through the intelligence reporting system on unsafe RMAA works developed with various strategic partners, a total of 6 853 complaint/referral cases were received. As a result of the follow-up inspections on these referral cases, we issued 350 suspension/improvement notices and took out 81 prosecutions.
4.15	The LD launched a new online OSH complaint platform in March 2019 to facilitate employees using mobile electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets or laptops to report unsafe working conditions so that the LD could conduct prompt follow-up actions. The LD also produced a set of new TV and Radio Announcement in the Public Interest (“API”), and made use of various channels such as training courses organised by MST course providers and workers registration service centres, to promote the complaint platform widely. As at the end of December 2019, the LD received a total of 1 913 OSH complaint cases through the platform. A total of 38 suspension notices and 172 improvement notices were issued and 150 prosecutions were/will be taken out by the LD upon discovery of breaches of OSH legislation from the above complaints. Besides, the LD produced a new OSH poster with messages in Chinese, English and six other languages (Indonesian, Hindi, Nepali, Tagalog, Thai and Urdu) and a handy plastic card holder printed with details of the complaint channels to step up promotion, with a view to eliminating unsafe working conditions. The LD has also widely distributed the card holders, and the posters to relevant parties through various channels for display.
4.16	In 2019, the LD continued enforcement campaign and publicity targeting outdoor workplaces with a higher risk of heat stroke. These workplaces include construction sites, outdoor cleansing workplaces, horticulture workplaces and container yards. In this special enforcement campaign from April to September, we conducted a total of 29 514 surprise inspections and issued 26 warnings.
4.17	Targeting health risks of standing at work, the LD in 2019 conducted inspections at the workplaces of various industries including catering, retail, property management and hotel. In the year, the LD conducted 281 surprise inspections and issued 18 warnings.
4.18	The Commissioner for Labour, as the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Authority, recognises competent inspection bodies to assess and inspect new pressure equipment during manufacturing. In addition, the LD conduct examinations, monitor courses for training of competent persons and issue certificates of competency to qualified candidates as competent persons for various types of boilers and steam receivers. In 2019, 546 applications for certificates of competency were processed, with 543 certificates issued/endorsed. We also advised the Fire Services Department on matters related to the approval and preliminary inspections of pressurised cylinders and storage installations for compressed gas.
4.19	As at the end of 2019, the LD recorded a total of 223 766 workplaces, including 27 980 construction sites. In the year, 166 036 inspections were conducted under the OSHO and the FIUO and their subsidiary regulations. As a result, 33 633 warnings and 4 528 suspension or improvement notices were issued. Besides, 4 680 inspections were made under the BPVO. 2 998 warnings were given and 9 prohibition orders on the use and operation of boilers and pressure vessels were issued. We also carried out 20 243 and 2 625 investigations on work accidents and suspected occupational diseases/occupational health problems respectively in the year. We also conducted 6 024 occupational hygiene surveys on workplace health hazards.
Education and Training
4.20	We provide training-related services to employers, employees and relevant parties to foster an OSH culture among the working population. The services are provision of training courses, recognition of mandatory safety training (MST) courses and registration of safety officers and safety auditors.
4.21	In 2019, we organised 557 safety and health training courses related to relevant legislation for 4 248 employees and 234 tailor-made talks for another 10 819. We also recognised seven mandatory basic safety training courses (commonly known as “green card” courses) for construction work, three MST courses for operators of cranes, three MST courses for confined spaces operation and four MST courses for operators of loadshifting machine. We also continued to implement improvement measures of the MST system. We launched the revamped safety training courses of confined spaces operation in 2019 to enhance workers’ knowledge of common risks in confined spaces operation and ability to eradicate those risks. We have a system in place to monitor these MST courses. We conducted different modes of monitoring inspections, including surprise inspections and covert inspections which involved inspecting officers in the guise of a course participant, to ensure that the courses were delivered in accordance with the course contents.
4.22	In 2019, we registered 201 persons as safety officers and 52 as safety auditors. As at the end of the year, there were 3 904 safety officers with valid registration and 1 381 registered safety auditors. Furthermore, a total of 838 applications for renewal or revalidation of registration as safety officers were approved in 2019.
4.23	Occupational health education raises employers’ and employees’ awareness of the prevention of occupational health hazards and occupational diseases. In 2019, a total of 1 194 health talks on various occupational health issues were organised for over 38 100 participants. Apart from organising public health talks, we also provided outreaching health talks at the workplaces of individual organisations. These health talks covered various occupations with more than 40 different topics such as “Occupational Health for Office Workers”, “Manual Handling Operations and Prevention of Back Injuries”, “Occupational Health for Cleansing Workers”, “Prevention of Lower Limb Disorders” and “Occupational Health in Catering Industry”.
4.24	The LD had uploaded the “Work Safety Alert” and “Systemic Safety Alert” on its website respectively to help raise the safety awareness of employers, contractors and workers and to remind the Registered Safety Officers and Registered Safety Auditors in exercising their statutory functions to advise their employers/clients to fulfill their safety responsibilities and render the necessary assistance. The Work Safety Alert summarised recent fatal and serious work accidents, and highlighted general safety precautionary measures whereas the Systemic Safety Alert provided accident prevention measures arising from the major systemic problems. In 2019, we continued to produce “Work Safety Alert” in the form of animation videos to enable the industry to better comprehend how accidents happened and the necessary precautionary measures to be taken for preventing recurrence of similar accidents. Eight animation videos on various topics, such as work-at-height safety and electrical work safety, were uploaded to the LD’s website and widely disseminated through different channels.
Publicity and Promotion
4.25	We held a series of promotional campaigns in 2019 to heighten safety awareness among employers and employees and to cultivate a positive safety culture at the workplaces, with some jointly organised with relevant stakeholders such as the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC), trade associations, workers’ unions and other government departments.
4.26	The Catering Industry Safety Award Scheme and the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme were organised again in 2019. The two schemes were well received by the industries.
Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme - Award Presentation Ceremony
Catering Industry Safety Award Scheme - Catering Industry Occupational Safety and Health Seminar cum Briefing
4.27	Accidents in the RMAA works have become a source of concern in recent years and the volume of the RMAA works continued to increase. In 2019, the LD, in collaboration with the OSHC, continued to implement the two-year publicity campaign launched in 2018 to remind contractors and workers to pay special attention to safety while carrying out the RMAA works, electrical work and working at height. Two safety seminars on truss-out bamboo scaffolding work safety and electrical work safety were held in May and September respectively. Other major publicity activities included broadcasting APIs on television/radio/mobile media, staging roving exhibitions, publishing feature articles in newspapers and on the LD’s website, publishing leaflets and disseminating safety messages to contractors, employers and employees through various means.
4.28	We also collaborated with relevant organisations including the OSHC, the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund Board, the Occupational Deafness Compensation Board, employers’ associations, trade unions and community groups in promoting occupational health through a variety of activities such as carnivals, occupational health award ceremony, health talks and promotional visits. Moreover, we promoted the prevention of common work-related diseases, such as musculoskeletal disorders which are common among service and clerical personnel and manual workers. In 2018, we collaborated with the Department of Health and the OSHC to jointly organise the “Joyful@Healthy Workplace” programme to promote physical and mental health among employers and employees at workplaces.
4.29	The LD also stepped up publicity on the prevention of heat stroke at work through a multitude of activities such as organising public and outreaching health talks, distributing publications and promotional posters, showing educational videos and displaying advertisements on mobile advertising media, and issuing press releases. During the year, we collaborated with the OSHC in launching a large-scale promotion campaign on heat stroke prevention. Through distributing protective equipment, broadcasting a new publicity video and conducting extensive publicity, the campaign reminded employers and employees to prevent heat stroke at work. The main targets of this campaign included construction workers, outdoor cleansing workers, horticulture workers, security guards, container terminal workers and airport apron workers.
4.30	To further reduce health risks associated with standing at work, the LD issued a new guideline in December 2018. The guideline emphasises that employers must, as far as reasonably practicable, provide suitable work chairs or chairs for occasional resting at the working locations to the employees who are engaged in standing work with restricted movement (e.g. cashier work at retail shops or fast food restaurants). The guideline also provides recommendations on service counter design. In 2019, the LD widely publicised the guideline through broadcasting APIs on television and radio, publishing feature articles in newspapers, organising health talks and distributing pamphlets. In addition, the LD strengthened promotional visits, inspections and enforcement work to assist employers in complying with the requirements of the guideline.
Enhancing employers and employees’ awareness of reducing health risks associated with standing at work by TV Announcement in the Public Interest
4.31	In 2019, the LD published 12 new/revised OSH publications for promoting work safety and health. Besides, we published 15 OSH publications in six languages of diverse race (Indonesian, Hindi, Nepali, Tagalog, Thai and Urdu), such as “Safety Guide for construction work over/near Water”, “Fatal Accidents Related to Electrical Work – Case 1”, “A Casebook of Fatal Accidents Related to Work-at-Height”, “Always Fasten The Chin Strap Of Your Safety Helmet, Work At Height With A Working Platform At All Times I” and “Always Fasten The Chin Strap Of Your Safety Helmet, Work At Height With A Working Platform At All Times II” posters, with a view to enhancing the safety awareness of workers of diverse race.
Latest publications on occupational safety and health
Occupational safety and health publications for workers of diverse race
4.32	In 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Branch handled 13 987 enquiries, advising on various safety and health matters. Furthermore, the Occupational Safety and Health Centre provides information and advisory services to workers and employers.
4.33	The LD collaborated with the property management sector to promote the RMAA work safety. A Task Force was formed to step up the promotion of work-at-height safety to stakeholders, including contractors and workers, on the use of suitable working platforms instead of ladders for working above ground and the use of safety helmets with chin straps. We in collaboration with the OSHC actively deepened the “Pilot Partnership Scheme on Promotion of Light-duty Working Platforms by Property Management Companies” launched in January 2018 to encourage contractors and workers conducting repair and maintenance works in relevant properties to use suitable step platforms and hop-up platforms (light-duty working platforms). We also in collaboration with the OSHC continued the “Safety Helmets with Y-type Chin Straps Sponsorship Scheme for SMEs” to subsidise the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of the construction industry to purchase safety helmets which conform to safety standards with a view to reducing head injury during a fall. This sponsorship scheme ended in June 2019 and received 821 applications in total. As at the end of 2019, 760 applications have been approved, benefiting over 11 700 workers.
4.34	Using straight ladder or A-ladder for work-at-height carries a lot of risk. In the past, there were several fatal accidents which involved workers falling from these ladders. In order to enhance the safety awareness of employers and workers in work-at-height, the LD in collaboration with the OSHC continued the “Enhanced Light-duty Working Platform Sponsorship Scheme with the SMEs” to subsidise the SMEs to purchase enhanced step platforms and hop-up platforms for work-above-ground. As at the end of 2019, 493 applications were received with 449 approved, benefiting over 7 600 workers.
4.35	The LD collaborated with the OSHC to ride on the Home Affairs Department’s community platforms to promote the RMAA works safety particularly work-at-height safety, to owners’ corporations, property owners and tenants, etc.
4.36	To promote safety awareness of the industry in operating boilers and pressure vessels, we distributed around 1 900 publications and leaflets regarding registration and safe operation of pressure equipment.
Clinical Occupational Health Services
4.37	The LD runs occupational health clinics in Kwun Tong and Fanling, providing clinical consultations, medical treatment as well as occupational health education and counselling services for workers suffering from work-related and occupational diseases. Workplaces of the patients are inspected if necessary to identify and evaluate occupational health hazards in the work environment.
4.38	In 2019, 10 718 clinical consultations were rendered. Moreover, patient support groups were organised to help patients achieve more desirable rehabilitation progress through health talks, experience sharing and peer support.