46
-
"We will take the recommendations forward and introduce during this Legislative Council session amendments to the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance. We will also encourage the co-operation of employers and workers to improve safety at the workplace and promote a safety management system at industrial undertakings and construction sites in Hong Kong."
Sixty-six new posts have been planned for 1996 and another 29 posts in subsequent years to enable the Labour Department to step up its inspections and enforcement actions against breaches of safety legislation and to assist and promote the adoption of the safety management system.
"Next year, the Government will publish a Charter for Safety in the workplace, highlighting employers' obligations to reduce the risk of accidents, as well as setting out the rights of workers to enjoy a safe working environment," he added.
Mr Wong cautioned that Hong Kong should not allow immediate concerns to cloud the long-term vision.
"In the face of continuing economic restructuring, we must help our students and workers acquire new skills; and we must assist those workers who have been displaced in the restructuring process to re-join the labour force. This will take time but this must be done.
"We are therefore reviewing the Employees Retraining Scheme to sharpen its focus and to improve its effectiveness. We will also commission a consultancy to undertake a review of the role, structure, programmes and activities of the Vocational Training Council to see how it can better meet the demands of our changing economy.
"It is the Government's determination to provide a well-educated and well- trained workforce to carry Hong Kong's success into the next century," Mr Wong said.
End/Thursday, October 12, 1995
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.