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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. THE HONOURABLE Kim Cham (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I do not have such detailed information at hand but they could be obtained, and if the question had been submitted in advance the information could be procured very easily.
The number of accidents recorded in 1984 was 1,470. This shows a significant decrease of 13.78 per cent as compared with the accident figure of 1,705 in 1983. The average number of accidents over the five-year period 1979 to 1983 was 1,591. Against this average figure, the 1984 accident total of 1,470 shows an actual decrease of 7.6 per cent. The number of fatal cases has also decreased from 4 in 1980 to 1 in 1984.
Other than the many precautionary measures taken at present to prevent accidents which account for the decrease in the accident rate, the Department is currently processing a case for the appointment of a departmental Staff Relations Officer at Senior Executive Officer level who, in addition to staff relations and welfare work, would also become the Departmental Safety Officer. It is intended that he would monitor accidents which occur in the department's work-force, inspect operational work-places, and in consultation with the Labour Department and other organizations concerned with safety, he would advise on measures to ensure greater safety at work.
The Department takes a serious view of the need for industrial safety. Precautionary measures adopted for staff on dangerous duties are kept under review to ensure that accidents are reduced to a minimum.
MR. SULLKE (in English):—Mr. Chairman, I am very glad to hear the reduction in accidents. I wonder whether my friend is aware that ours is an accident rate of ... per cent, and in Singapore, the accident rate for a similar situation is about 1... per cent, so I hope the department will appoint a Safety Officer as soon as possible. Could I also ask whether some simple common-sense measures be taken to prevent the rather high rate of accidents we are having with our staff?
DR. THE HONOURABLE Kim Cham (in English):—Mr. Chairman, first of all, of course, Singapore has a different set of circumstances and environment than Hong Kong, particularly with respect to open spaces or different terrain, etc. Nevertheless, I think we have tried our very best to achieve the best we could, and this certainly does not mean that we will stop trying further, which Mr. Sullke has rightly pointed out. Hopefully, there would be further improvements with the appointment of the Departmental Safety Officer.
MRS. MARGARET LI (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask, through you, whether there are any records on the classifications and figures concerning these accidents, and can we pinpoint any particular type of accidents that have been reduced?
4. MRS. MARGARET LI asked the following question (in Cantonese):—Since the last large-scale blitz operation on dog fouling of streets a number of years ago, I would like to know if there has been sustained improvement, containment, or deterioration of the problem.
Specifically, I would appreciate answers on (a) the system of monitoring and how it operates; (b) relevant statistics such as the growth and size of the canine population in the urban area; the estimated total output of dog urine and excreta and the total weight of excreta collected on streets or from dog latrines in the urban area; whether measures, facilities, and management capacities are reviewed periodically relative to such statistics and/or complaints from the public; (d) whether any future blitz operation would include an educative element to the public on transmission of disease and the deleterious effects of dog fouling on human health; (e) whether any future review would recommend methods to recover part, if not all, of the operation cost in cleaning streets fouled by dogs.
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, Chairman of the ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in Cantonese):—The question refers to fouling of streets by dog excreta and whether or not there has been any sustained improvement of this problem since the last large-scale blitz operation a number of years ago.
As far as I am aware, the Urban Council has never conducted any such blitz operation. Since the 1972 Clean Hong Kong Campaign, dog latrines have been built at a number of locations, and dog owners have been prosecuted under the provision of By-law 13 of the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances By-laws. At present, some 290 dog latrines are provided in the urban area, and about 150 cases of prosecution are taken out each month against owners permitting their animals to foul the streets. The streets are cleaned regularly by the Council's street sweepers and at intervals by the street washing gangs. This problem has diminished very considerably since the 1972 Campaign, as many dog owners now realize the need to make use of the dog latrine facilities where available, or they are prepared to clean up the mess immediately afterwards. As long as there remains a number of stray and unleashed dogs, however, some fouling is inevitable, and complete eradication of the problem is not feasible.
There is reason to believe that the dog population is currently on the decline after the last rabies crisis. With the decline in dog population, the continuing...
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