EMPLOYMENT
89
Employment Agencies
Under the Employment Ordinance, an employment agency is required to obtain a licence before starting operation. During the year, the Labour Department issued 238 licences to employment agencies dealing with local employment and 58 to those handling employment outside Hong Kong.
Industrial Safety
The Factory Inspectorate of the Labour Department is responsible for enforcing the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations. These regulations 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 the layout of new factories to achieve a better working environment. The inspectorate also investigates industrial accidents and dangerous occurrences.
The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Asbestos) Special Regulations 1986, which came into operation in August, prohibit the use in any industrial undertaking of certain types of asbestos and any process involving the spraying of asbestos. They also control the use of other types of asbestos in industrial undertakings.
The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations were enacted later in the year. The regulations provide for the compulsory employment of safety officers and safety supervisors in construction sites above a certain size, the establishment of a safety officers advisory committee and the registration of safety officers. The provisions on the establishment of the safety officers advisory committee and the registration of safety officers came into operation in December; the rest will come into effect in December 1987.
The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Carcinogenic Substances) Regulations were also enacted during the year. The regulations seek to prohibit or control the use of certain known carcinogenic substances in industrial undertakings. They came into effect in November.
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 series of eight episodes of documentary or drama was presented between July and September as part of the popular television programme ‘Enjoy Yourself Tonighť.
Under the Labour Advisory Board's Committee on Industrial Safety and Accident Prevention, sub-committees for the construction, textiles, plastics, shipbuilding and ship- repairing, metalware and electronics industries were set up between 1980-5. These sub-committees, following ILO recommendations, comprise representatives of employers, workers and the government; their aim is to promote work safety in various industries.
The Committee on Industrial Safety and Accident Prevention organised an industrial safety forum for management staff and workers in December to foster their awareness of safety at work. Various other promotional activities were also undertaken by the industry- based safety sub-committees. These activities included the preparation of codes and pamphlets on safe practices for the relevant industries, the organising of safety quiz competitions and the arrangement of promotional visits to factories. A safety award scheme was organised by the Construction Industry Sub-committee for the fourth time.
Throughout the year, the Factory Inspectorate's Industrial Safety Training Centre provided safety training courses for supervisors and workers from various industries. In