"For example, our Factory Inspectorate has, for decades, enforced industrial safety laws under the inspect and prosecute mode.
"But since our new strategy is to adopt the promotional and preventive approach, we need to help our inspectors change their traditional thinking and perception and acquire new skills.
"Also as we introduce the new safety management regulation, our inspectors should be prepared both professionally and psychologically to change their mode of operation," she said.
Miss Willis explained that instead of dealing with the works supervisors, the inspectors would be required to 'sell' self-regulation in a board room and this meant a partnership with the duty holders: employers, employees and their associations.
Furthermore, she said, when the new Occupational Safety and Health Bill was passed into law, the factory inspectors would have to cover new frontiers of work where the hazards, problems and management styles were totally different from traditional factories and industrial undertakings.
She said all of these required a fresh mind to see what needed to be done and a new Deputy Commissioner was appointed to act as a 'Change Manager' in October 1995.
Miss Willis said after the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Branch, one of the first things the Department did was to make the 'occupational health services' on a par with 'occupational safety'.
"We then managed the staff culture change through a series of seminars. We developed the 'Vision, Mission and Values' statements which our staff can identify with.
"Our next step was to develop the core competencies in the various grades in the Factory Inspectorate and occupational health personnel. Our efforts include training in performance management, communication principles, presentation, influencing and negotiation skills and other managerial and staff development
programmes.
"In skills training, experts from overseas and owners of proprietary systems have been engaged to train up factory inspectors on the promotion of safety and health management system and safety audit," she said.
End