XN000022-1973-12-14 — Page 5

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Friday, December 14, 1973

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS CLAIM RECORD TOLL THIS YEAR

Final Responsibility Lies With Management: Labour Commissioner

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One in every seven people employed in Hong Kong in the past 10

years had been injured at work badly enough to require medical treatment,

the Commissioner of Labour, Mr. I.R. Price, said today.

"The number of accidents in this period was nearly 180,000," he

said. "Or let me put it another way: imagine the entire population

man, woman and child -- of the Tsz Wan Shan and Tung Tau housing estates,

all injured and undergoing medical treatment."

Mr. Price was speaking at a reception held to mark the opening

of South-East Asia's biggest-ever Industrial Safety Exhibition in the

Chinese Manufacturers' Association Pavilion at the C.M.A. Fair.

Guests at the reception included representatives of industrial,

commercial and shipping firms who donated funds or loaned machinery and

equipment for the exhibition.

Mr. Price said: "During the same period of 10 years, 2,340 people

have been killed at work imagine some 30 double-decker buses, stretched

along Queen's Road, Central, and in every seat a mangled, lifeless body."

Mr. Price said people did not realise the magnitude of the toll

Hong Kong faced from accidents at work in terms of human lives, injuries,

and huge losses to the economy.

"How many realise that the number of people killed at work is

about three times the number killed in crimes of violence?" he asked. "'And

that the number of injured at work is double the road accident rate?

Today,