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The initiatives taken by Government have achieved a reasonable degree of success in improving industrial safety in Hong Kong. Since 1988 the total annual number of industrial accidents have been on a downward trend. For 1995, the provisional statistics show that there has been an encouraging 7.1 per cent reduction in the total number of industrial accidents compared with 1994. Nevertheless, the overall accident rates per thousand workers and the number of fatalities arising from industrial accidents, particularly in the construction industry, has remained unacceptably high. For instance, despite a reduction in the overall number of industrial accidents, a total of 77 workers were killed in industrial accidents in 1995. This represents a sharp rise from the 1994 figure of 67 deaths.
It is clear that Hong Kong must do much more to reduce the number of industrial accidents and the number of deaths arising from them. As a policy commitment in the 1994 Policy Address, Government started a comprehensive review of industrial safety in Hong Kong in late 1994 and published in July 1995 the 'Consultation Paper on the Review of Industrial Safety in Hong Kong' for public
comments.
We put forward a total of 45 recommendations in the consultation paper to improve Hong Kong's industrial safety record. We believe that the primary responsibility for safety and health at work rests with the proprietors, who create the risks, and the workers, who work with such risks. Our ultimate goal is self-regulation by the proprietor and his workforce. Government's role should be to provide a framework with legislative and administrative components within which self- regulation is to be achieved through a company system of safety management. This should be backed by enhanced enforcement focused on establishments where the self- regulation is not working. I am glad to report that our recommendations have received general public support during the consultation period. I shall elaborate on the implementation of the recommendations later.
Occupational Health and the Non-Industrial Sectors
Turning now to the question of occupational health and protection of the non- industrial workers, this is certainly an important area and we have not been idle. In 1988 we set up the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) with the following statutory functions:
(a)
(b)
to foster greater awareness among the community; to promote the application of modern technology;
(c)
to promote education and training;
(d)
to disseminate technical knowledge;
(e)
to develop strategies and formulate programmes;
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