- 9 -
Registration of a 'safety officer' cancelled
The Chief Factory Inspector of the Labour Department, Mr Chan Tat-king, revealed today (Friday) that the Commissioner for Labour Mr Stephen Ip has exercised the power conferred to him under regulation 9 of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations in cancelling the registration of Chan Ka-leung as a safety officer with effect from January 6 this year.
The cancellation of registration was published in today's Government Gazette.
The Chief Factory Inspector said Chan Ka-leung applied for registration as a safety officer with the Labour Department in June 1994 using a certificate allegedly issued by a university in Canada.
His registration was accepted on the ground that the certificate was verified by the university in question. In November last year, the university subsequently confirmed that the certificate presented by Chan was a false document. The case was then referred to the Police.
Chan Ka-leung was charged by the Police early last month with one count of using a false instrument under Section 73 of the Crime (Amendment) Ordinance. He pleaded guilty in Western Magistracy on January 9 and was fined $3,000.
The Chief Factory Inspector appealed to people wishing to register as a safety officer to provide true information to the Labour Department as every application would be subject to very careful and close vetting by the department.
He also reminded building contractors and shipyard owners that the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations would come into effective on June 8, 1995 after its passage in the Legislative Council on June 8, 1994.
Main amendments to the regulations are:
a)
a proprietor will be required to employ a safety officer if he employs 100 or more employees on one or more of his construction sites;
b)
the application of the principal regulations will be extended to shipyards so that a proprietor has to employ a safety officer if he employs 100 or more employees in one or more of his shipyards, and to employ a safety supervisor in any of his shipyards where 20 or more employees are employed; and