Chapter 4 Safety and Health at Work

The Programme of Safety and Health at Work

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

4.1The 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.

4.2The 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.

4.3The 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.

4.4The 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 2021

Work Safety Performance

4.5Through 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.

4.6The number of occupational injuries in all workplaces in 2021 stood at 30 448, whereas the number in 2012 was 39 907. The injury rate per thousand employees was 10.5 in 2021, and the rate in 2012 was 14.1. The number of industrial accidents for all sectors was 8 865, and the number in 2012 was 12 547. The accident rate per thousand workers for all sectors was 15.2, and the rate in 2012 was 21.3.

4.7In 2021, there were 3 109 industrial accidents in the construction industry, and the number in 2012 was 3 160. The accident rate per thousand workers in 2021 was 29.5, and the rate in 2012 was 44.3.

Occupational Diseases

4.8In 2021, there were 534 confirmed occupational disease and gas poisoning cases. The most common occupational diseases were occupational deafness, silicosis and tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm.

4.9For more statistics on the OSH, please visit the webpage: www.labour.gov.hk/eng/osh/content10.htm.

Key Indicators of Work

4.10Some key indicators of work of this programme area are shown in Appendix 4.1.

Inspection and Enforcement

4.11To 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.

4.12We 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 violations.

4.13In 2021, 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 2021, we also conducted 18 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; use of elevating work platforms; catering; waste management works; logistic, cargo and container-handling industries as well as fire and chemical safety. In these 18 operations, a total of 17 767 workplaces were inspected, with 1 600 improvement notices and 501 suspension notices issued to duty holders, and 720 prosecutions initiated. Besides, we launched 40 in-depth surprise inspections to work sites with higher risk processes or poor safety performance. A total of 1 049 suspension/improvement notices were issued and 354 prosecutions were initiated. In order to enhance safety performance of public work projects, representatives of the LD participated in 358 site safety management committee meetings of public work projects and provided safety advice, particularly on work processes with relatively high risk, to the contractors and relevant duty holders.

4.14We conduct investigations into complaints concerning unsafe conditions or malpractices in workplaces. In 2021, we handled 234 complaints lodged by workers and initiated 21 prosecutions arising from investigation of these cases. Through the intelligence reporting system on unsafe RMAA works developed with various strategic partners, a total of 6 066 complaint/referral cases were received. As a result of the follow-up inspections on these referral cases, we issued 170 suspension/improvement notices and took out 49 prosecutions.

4.15To enable the conduct of inspections in a more targeted manner, the LD established an online OSH complaint platform to facilitate employees and members of the public to report unsafe working conditions using mobile electronic devices, so that the LD can conduct prompt follow-up actions. In 2021, the LD received a total of 883 OSH complaints through the platform. A total of 35 suspension notices and 119 improvement notices were issued and 56 prosecutions were/will be taken out by the LD upon discovery of breaches of OSH legislation from the above complaints.

4.16In 2021, the LD continued to collaborate with the property management sector to implement the referral mechanism for RMAA works carried out in individual units of estates. Responsible property management personnel would notify the LD prior to the commencement of some high risk works (e.g. truss-out scaffolding works at external wall), thus enabling the LD to conduct targeted safety inspections in a timely manner.

4.17In 2021, the LD continued to carry out enforcement operations and publicity campaigns targeting outdoor workplaces with a higher risk of heat stroke. These workplaces include construction sites, outdoor cleansing workplaces, horticulture workplaces and container yards. In the special enforcement operation from April to September, we conducted a total of 26 561 surprise inspections, issued four warnings and two improvement notices, and initiated two prosecutions.

4.18Targeting health risks of standing at work, the LD conducted inspections at workplaces of various industries in 2021, including those of the catering, retail, property management and hotel industries. The LD conducted 256 surprise inspections in these workplaces and issued two warnings.

4.19The 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 conducts examinations, monitors courses for training of competent persons and issues certificates of competency to qualified candidates as competent persons for various types of boilers and steam receivers. In 2021, 453 applications for certificates of competency were processed, with 453 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.

4.20As at the end of 2021, the LD recorded a total of 232 147 workplaces, including 30 126 construction sites. In the year, 130 676 inspections were conducted under the OSHO, the FIUO and their subsidiary regulations. As a result, 26 489 warnings and 5 066 suspension or improvement notices were issued. Besides, 4 680 inspections were made under the BPVO. 2 845 warnings were given and 14 prohibition orders on the use and operation of boilers and pressure vessels were issued. We also carried out 16 978 and 2 614 investigations on work accidents and suspected occupational diseases/occupational health problems respectively. We also conducted 6 510 occupational hygiene surveys on workplace health hazards.

Education and Training

4.21We provide training-related services to employers, employees and relevant parties to foster an OSH culture among the working population. They include provision of training courses, recognition of Mandatory Safety Training (MST) courses and registration of safety officers and safety auditors.

4.22In 2021, we organised 692 safety and health training courses related to relevant legislation for 10 182 employees and 224 tailor-made talks to individual industries or organisations for another 34 552 persons. We also recognised nine mandatory basic safety training courses (commonly known as “green card” courses) for construction and container-handling work, one MST course for confined space operation and one MST course for operators of loadshifting machine. We also continued to refine the MST courses, and launched the revamped Safety Training Courses for Operators of Crane and Safety Training Courses for Operators of Loadshifting Machine. The revisions included strengthening the introduction of the relevant OSH legislation and on the use of personal protective equipment, so as to further enhance the quality of the courses. In addition, to enhance the quality of MST courses, the LD revised the operation code and guidance notes of the “Approval Conditions for Operating Mandatory Safety Training Courses” to strengthen the sanctions against training course providers and their trainers violating the approval conditions. 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.

4.23In 2021, we registered 247 persons as safety officers and 67 as safety auditors. As at the end of the year, there were 4 203 safety officers with valid registration and 1 494 registered safety auditors. Furthermore, a total of 820 applications for renewal or revalidation of registration as safety officers were approved in 2021.

4.24Occupational health education raises employers’ and employees’ awareness of the prevention of occupational health hazards and occupational diseases. In 2021, we organised a total of 934 health talks on various occupational health issues for over 44 500 participants. Apart from open health talks, we also conducted 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. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the health talks were conducted online in 2021 so that employers and employees could continue to participate in them.

4.25The LD uploaded Work Safety Alerts and Systemic Safety Alerts on the LD’s website respectively to help raise the safety awareness of employers, contractors and workers and to urge Registered Safety Officers and Registered Safety Auditors to apply safety management principles in exercising their statutory functions to advise their employers/clients to fulfill their safety responsibilities and render the necessary assistance. Work Safety Alerts summarised recent fatal and serious work accidents, and highlighted general safety precautionary measures whereas Systemic Safety Alerts provided accident prevention measures arising from the major systemic problems. In 2021, the LD produced and revised Systemic Safety Alerts including “lifting operation”, “work-at-height/work-above-ground” and “circular saw safety”. In 2021, we continued to produce Work Safety Alerts 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. Two animation videos on various topics, including vehicle reversing safety and welding work safety, were uploaded to the LD’s website and widely disseminated through different channels. Furthermore, the LD continued to translate sub-titles of the Work Safety Alerts animation videos into different languages (including Hindi, Nepali, Tagalog and Urdu) to facilitate construction workers of diverse races to comprehend the OSH information.

Publicity and Promotion

4.26We held a series of promotional campaigns in 2021 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.

4.27In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, we suspended the “Catering Industry Safety Award Scheme” in 2021. In order to continue to urge the catering industry to take practical safety measures and improve working environment to reduce accident risks, we launched the “Catering Industry Safety Promotional Campaign” again. The Campaign comprised the “Catering Industry Safety Inspiration Programme”, two catering safety animation videos and the new “Catering Industry Safety Slogan Competition”. Employers and employees in the catering industry who participated in the programme were required to make commitments on OSH enhancement. For the animation videos, they were uploaded to the LD’s website and widely broadcast through various channels to promote catering safety. The slogan competition aimed to enhance the OSH awareness of the catering industry and the public so as to reduce accidents and injuries in the catering industry. With regard to the construction industry, the LD in collaboration with the OSHC and related organisations in the construction industry organised the “Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme” again to raise the safety and health awareness of contractors, personnel and workers of construction sites, foster a positive safety culture; and encourage the adoption of safe work practices. The LD also organised an open competition to recognise contractors, site personnel and workers for their good OSH performances, with a view to enhancing public understanding on construction safety.

4.28Accidents in RMAA works have become a source of concern in recent years. In 2021, the LD, in collaboration with the OSHC, continued to implement the two-year publicity campaign launched in 2020 to remind contractors and workers to pay special attention to safety while carrying out RMAA works, the related electrical work, and working at height. Three safety webinars on electrical work accident case analysis and safety management, truss-out bamboo scaffolding work safety and RMAA and external wall repairing safety were held in March, May and November 2021 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.

4.29Since 2021, the LD further stepped up targeted promotion work in relation to work-at-height and work-above-ground safety. These included broadcasting Work Safety Alerts on publicity platforms of mass transportation and through websites and mobile applications frequently visited and used by workers, producing and distributing safety banners to construction sites, displaying safety messages at post boxes, on roadsides, on external walls of government buildings, at tunnels’ entrances, in Home Affairs Enquiry Centres of the Home Affairs Department, broadcasting radio announcements by celebrities on race days, displaying occupational safety and health messages via the social media of the OSHC such as its Facebook and the LD’s homepage.

4.30We 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 organising occupational health award, holding health talks and distributing promotional materials. Moreover, we promoted the prevention of common work-related diseases, such as musculoskeletal disorders which are common among workers of service industry, clerical personnel and manual workers. We also continued to co-organise the “Joyful@Healthy Workplace” programme and the “Mental Health Workplace Charter” with the Department of Health and the OSHC, and encouraged employers to participate in the programmes, in order to promote a health-friendly working environment and foster physical and mental well-being of employees.

4.31The 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. From April to September 2021, we continued to collaborate with the OSHC in launching a large-scale promotion campaign on heat stroke prevention. Through distributing protective equipment (e.g. cooling towels, arm covers, water bottles and newly added portable waist fans) and conducting extensive publicity, the campaign reminded employers and employees to prevent heat stroke at work. The main targets of the campaign included construction workers, outdoor cleansing workers, horticulture workers, security guards, container terminal workers, airport apron workers, recycling workers, electrical and mechanical service workers as well as postal and courier service workers.

4.32In addition, the LD and the OSHC launched the Portable Waist Fan Sponsorship Scheme for SMEs from April to June 2021 to sponsor SMEs in the nine targeted industries of the above large-scale promotion campaign to purchase portable and safety compliant waist fans for employees’ use at work as necessary to reduce heat stress.

4.33To better assist large corporations in enhancing their occupational health performance, the Occupational Health Service of the LD set up a Central Promotion Team in August 2020. The team aimed to promote good work practice to the management of these corporations to ensure the occupational health of employees. The team set out the theme for promotion with regard to the work situation and occupational health risks of specific industries. The team visits targeted large corporations to explain to them the relevant requirements under the legislation and guidelines relating to the theme and urge them to implement relevant measures through a top-down, holistic and unified approach for strengthening the protection of workers’ health at work. Since its set-up to the end of 2021, the Central Promotion Team conducted promotional visits to a total of 50 large corporations of the retail industry, catering industry, property management industry and hotel industry to advise the employers to follow the requirements of the “Guidance Notes on Standing at Work and Service Counter Design” issued by the LD to further reduce health risks associated with standing at work. In addition, the team conducted promotional visits to the five street cleaning contractors of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and advised them to adopt precautionary measures to prevent heat stroke of cleaning workers during work. Besides, the team also visited 30 large construction corporations to promote measures for controlling noise and dust hazards at work.

4.34In 2021, the LD published 33 new/revised OSH publications and one DVD, including “Guidance Notes on Prevention of Trapping Hazard of Tail Lifts”, “Guidance Notes on Continuing Professional Development Programmes under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations”, “Guidance Notes on Fire Safety at Workplaces”, “飲食業意外個案簡析系列（餐館） (Chinese Only)”, “Occupational Safety for Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition Works — Safety Hints for Contractors and Workers”, “Occupational Safety for Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition Works — Safety Hints for Owners and Tenants of Commercial and Residential Units”, “Occupational Safety for Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition Works — Safety Hints for Owners' Corporations”, “Occupational Safety for Repair, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition Works — Safety Hints for Property Management Companies”, “Double Row Scaffolding with Platform Ensure Safety Prevent Accident” poster and “Be a Considerate Employee Comply with Occupational Safety Laws to Avoid Criminal Liability” poster for promoting work safety and health. Besides, we published 18 OSH publications in six languages (Indonesian, Hindi, Nepali, Tagalog, Thai and Urdu), such as “Safety Measures for Use of Truss-out Bamboo Scaffold”, “Basic Electrical Safety Measures in the Workplace” and “Be on Guard” poster, with a view to enhancing the safety awareness of workers of diverse race. In respect of lifting safety, the LD, in collaboration with the Development Bureau, the Housing Department, the Construction Industry Council, the Hong Kong Professional Hoisting Engineering Association Limited and the Hong Kong Tower Crane Association Limited, was preparing “An Accident Casebook on Lifting Operation”. The Casebook would analyse common accident cases involving lifting operation, identify their causes and suggest feasible safety measures, with a view to inculcating safety messages into the stakeholders and preventing recurrence of similar accidents.

4.35In 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Branch handled 12 384 enquiries, advising on various safety and health matters. Furthermore, the Occupational Safety and Health Centre provides information and advisory services to employers and workers.

4.36The LD collaborated with the property management sector to promote RMAA work safety and 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 collaborated with the OSHC as well as the property management and construction industries to launch the “Promoting the Use of Light-duty Working Platforms Scheme Phase II”. Through the property management companies, more step platforms and hop-up platforms (light-duty working platforms) would be lent to the contractors and workers conducting RMAA works in the estates or residential buildings free of charge to encourage them to use light-duty working platforms for above-ground works instead of ladders.

4.37Using straight ladders or A-ladders 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 collaborated with the OSHC to continue with the Enhanced Light-duty Working Platform Sponsorship Scheme for SMEs by subsidising small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to purchase enhanced step platforms and hop-up platforms for above-ground work. As at December 2021, 1 153 applications were received with 1 042 approved, benefiting over 16 800 workers.

4.38In order to remind employers and workers not to take simple work above ground lightly, the LD started the production of a new set of TV API and Radio API in 2021. We started to broadcast the APIs in January 2022.

4.39The LD collaborated with the OSHC to ride on the Home Affairs Department’s community platforms to promote RMAA work safety particularly work-at-height safety, to owners’ corporations, property owners and tenants, etc.

4.40To 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

4.41The 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.

4.42In 2021, 10 040 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.