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Proposal to tackle industrial safety
A comprehensive review on industrial safety conducted by the Government recommended that Hong Kong should change from its conventional enforcement approach to a safety management system in tackling industrial safety.
This was stated today (Tuesday) by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Michael Leung, when he released the Consultation Paper on the Review of Industrial Safety in Hong Kong for public consultation.
Mr Leung pointed out that the existing enforcement approach relied heavily on inspections and prosecutions to ensure compliance of safety legislation.
"It has many drawbacks and the most critical one is that it does not help build up a safety culture among the employers and workers so as to bring about long term improvements to the safety standards," he said.
The review re-affirms that the primary responsibility for safety at work rests with the proprietors and workers because they are the people who create and work with the risks.
"The ultimate goal is self-regulation by proprietors and their workforce to uphold safety at workplaces. To achieve such goal, the Government should provide a legislative framework requiring proprietors to adopt a safety management system at the workplace," Mr Leung said.
He noted that the safety management system had proved to be effective in improving industrial safety records in overseas countries such as UK, Japan, Australia and Singapore.
"They have taken less enforcement actions but have witnessed significant decline in accident rates in recent years. Local experience also indicated that the best performers in industrial safety are those companies such as utility companies and leading contractors that have embraced self-regulation and safety management," he
said.
The review recommended that a safety management system suitable for Hong Kong should contain the following components:
(a)
a company safety policy;
(b)
safety plans;
(c)
safety committees;
(d) regular safety audits or safety reviews;
(e)
general safety training for all workers; and
(f)
specific training for workers engaged in hazardous trades or processes.