EMPLOYMENT
77
Foreign Domestic Helpers
To regulate the employment of foreign domestic helpers, the majority of whom come from the Philippines, existing administrative measures require the contracts of these helpers to be attested by the Labour Department. During the year, 23 774 such contracts were attested. The department is also responsible for the conciliation of disputes arising from the employment of these domestic helpers. In 1985, 335 claims, 935 consultations and 39 412 enquiries were handled.
Employment Agencies
The licensing and operation of all employment agencies are governed by the Employment Agency Regulations made under the Employment Ordinance. During the year, the Labour Department had issued 215 licences to employment agencies handling local employment and 52 to those dealing with overseas employment.
Industrial Safety
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The Factory Inspectorate of the Labour Department is responsible for enforcing the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations. These provide for the safety and health of workers in factories, on building and engineering construction sites and in other industrial undertakings. Advice and assistance is given to management on guarding dangerous machinery parts, adopting safe working practices and layout of new factories to achieve a better working environment. The inspectorate also investigates industrial accidents and other dangerous occurrences.
The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Amendment) Ordinance 1985, which replaces the registration system with a new notification system, came into operation on August 2. Under the new system, the person having the management and control of a notifiable workplace is required to notify the Commissioner for Labour before the workplace commences operation, giving the particulars necessary for the commissioner to assess the safety and health implications. This continues to provide the Commissioner for Labour with the necessary information to plan factory inspections, but, by avoiding the time-consuming registration procedures, allows more resources to be spent on enforcing the safety regulations under the ordinance.
Amendments were also made to the Fire Precautions in Registrable Workplaces Regula- tions and drafting work continued on three new sets of regulations under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, the Carcinogenic Substances Regulations, the Asbestos (Safety) Regulations and the Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors Regulations. The Electronics Industry Safety Sub-committee was formed in the latter part of the year under the Labour Advisory Board Committee on Industrial Safety and Accident Preven- tion. Sub-committees for the construction, textiles, plastics, shipbuilding and ship repairing and metalware industries were set up between 1980-4. These sub-committees, following ILO recommendations, are tripartite organisations, consisting of representatives of em- ployers, workers and the Labour Department and their aim is to promote work safety in various industries.
The Factory Inspectorate, in collaboration with the Information Services Department, continued its publicity programme for the promotion of industrial safety through extensive use of the media and other means. A 30-series radio programme, Music While You Work, commenced broadcasting on Radio Television Hong Kong in June and ended with a 'Industrial Safety Gala Night' held in December at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. Also in conjunction with RTHK, a documentary film on industrial safety was produced in