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Quality control of industrial protective equipment
Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li Wah-ming and a reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Michael Leung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
At present, workers can easily purchase industrial protective equipment such as dust masks, goggles, helmets and other items in the open market. However, the quality of such protective equipment is of uneven standard, and some of these items cannot even meet the required safety standards. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
(b)
(c)
whether it has conducted regular tests on the quality of various items of industrial protective equipment available in the open market to check if they meet the required safety standard; if so, what the details are; if not, why not?
what specific measures the Government has put in place to educate factory-owners, site contractors and workers on how to choose and use protective equipment which meets the required safety standard; and
what interim and long-term measures does the Government have to monitor both the manufacturers and the retailers, so as to curb the indiscriminate selling of protective equipment which does not meet the required safety standard?
Reply:
Mr President,
(a)
The Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) commissions tests on industrial protective equipment to see if they meet specified safety standards. Recent examples of such tests are those on goggles, spectacles and face shields. The OSHC also has plans to conduct more tests on personal protective equipment.