8
Thursday, September 20, 1973
IPORTANCE OF PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT UNDERLINED
The correct use of personal protective equipment could go a long
way towards protecting workers against some of the dangers of work in
industry, the Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Mr. J.N. Henderson, said today.
Mr. Henderson was officially opening a two-day Industrial Safety
Seminar sponsored by John D. Hutchison and Co. Ltd. the Hong Kong agent
for Protector International Pty Ltd., manufacturers of industrial safety
equipment.
The seminar held at the Industrial Safety Training Centre of
the Labour Department - is being attended by some 50 executives from the
building industry, the shipbuilding and repairing industry and other utility
companies.
Mr. Henderson said that, for example, 14 people were killed and
6,481 injured last year as a result of tripping over objects or being struck
by falling objects.
"The wearing of safety helmets and safety shoes might have pre-
vented many of these accidents," he said,
lir. Henderson said the government was deeply concerned about the
"Please do remember that
human suffering caused by industrial accidents.
we are talking about people, not statistics."
He said the use of protective equipment did not always appeal
to workers in Hong Kong
-
and indeed elsewhere
-
for reasons of comfort.
It was therefore up to the management to persuade and convince them to
do so.
/In fact,