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"It was also the first time that the average fine for each convicted summons had exceeded the $11,900 mark. These are encouraging signs," Mr Lee said.
He attributed the success to the concerted efforts of the factory inspectors, particularly those who had conducted nearly 22,000 inspections to construction sites and another 61,000 to other industrial undertakings in 1995.
Turning to the implementation of recommendations in the Consultation Paper on the Review of Industrial Safety in Hong Kong, Mr Lee said FID of the department was being restructured to reflect the changes.
"Sixty-six new posts, including 44 Factory Inspector posts, three senior engineer and one senior chemist posts are expected to be created in April this year to help implement the recommendations.
"Following a successful year of prosecutions, our prime target this year will focus on the promotion of safety management at the enterprise level so that safety and health issues could be tackled more effectively," he said.
He said an amendment to FIUO was expected to be made in May to empower the Commissioner for Labour to issue suspension notices and improvement notices to stop hazardous processes, the operation of dangerous machines or the use of working methods until proprietors had taken specific safety measures to eliminate the risks.
The Commissioner also intends to make a new set of regulation to require proprietors of large or hazardous industrial undertakings to implement safety management systems in the workplace.
Later in the year, the proposed regulation will prescribe the key process elements of a safety management system and provide for its effectiveness to be measured by safety audits or safety reviews depending on the size of an undertaking or the nature of a process.
Furthermore, a number of existing industrial safety laws are being amended to enhance their control on work safety and to follow up on the recommendation of enhanced law enforcement.
Another major move by FID is to extend the protection of work safety and health to other occupations which are at present outside the ambit of existing safety legislation.