UMELCO
DRAFT SPEECH BY DR HON CHIU HIN KWONG
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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23.4.86
Pneumoconiosis Compensation (Amendment) Bill 1986
Sir,
The Pneumoconiosis Compensation (Amendment) Bill 1986 conditionally enables the dependants of a pneumoconiosis victim who dies from a cause other than pneumoconiosis to claim compensation on his behalf even without a certificate issued by the Medical Board before his death. The proposed provision does signify a certain amount of improvement.
The payment of compensation, whatever the amount may be, can never make up for the irreversible damage to the victim and loss to his family. Although the amendment is well received, yet the Bill itself is quite remedial in nature. Would it not be more constructive if preventive measures were also introduced and be dealt with simultaneously?
At present, some government departments are taking care of public education on industrial safety. However, the construction and quarry industries in Hong Kong and the workers in high-risk areas need to be further educated about known
methods for protection against and early detection of health problems. Protective measures and programmes for spreading information about them need to be evaluated. All these
positive actions will not only be beneficial to the Hong Kong work-force but they are also essential to the Hong Kong Government in deciding on the amount of levy.
Actions like these have financial implications. I wonder whether or not we can make use of the interest generated from the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund for this purpose?
UMELCO