XN000022-1995-07-12 — Page 55

- 43 -

(b) The Labour Department promulgates approved personal protective equipment to protect the health and safety of workers and provides information and advice to factory proprietors, contractors and workers on approved and suitable equipment.

(c)

Under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, it is the duty of every factory proprietor and contractor to procure approved or suitable types of protective equipment for his employees and to provide information, training and supervision to them on the proper use of these equipment. The Labour Department has published a large number of pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and posters on the need, selection and use of such equipment.

The Labour Department's Industrial Safety Training Centre also organises safety training courses on various aspects of industrial safety including the proper use of protective, equipment. The OSHC also organises training courses on personal protective equipment.

Besides the Information Services Department, the Labour Department and the OSHC run annual series of promotion and publicity activities on industrial safety. The proper use of personal protective equipment is always one of the important feature of these activities.

The Labour Department at present controls the purchase and use of sub- standard protective equipment at the user's end through enforcement of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance. When a sub- standard personal protective equipment is found in use in an industrial undertaking or on a construction site, the proprietor or contractor concerned will be given appropriate advice and suitable warning and, if necessary, prosecuted for contravening the relevant regulations.

In the longer term, the vigorous enforcement of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, together with sustained promotion, publicity and educational campaigns on the use of proper protective equipment, should eliminate from the market those items of equipment which fall below required industrial safety standards.

End/Wednesday, July 12, 1995