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Measures proposed to ensure workers' safety

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The Government proposes to empower the Commissioner for Labour to issue suspension and improvement notices in a bid to ensure the safety of workers, particularly those working at construction sites.

Details of the proposal were contained in the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Amendment) Bill 1996 gazetted today (Friday).

Under the Bill, the Commissioner for Labour can issue a notice to proprietors and contractors to suspend immediately any hazardous work or the use of dangerous equipment which is likely to give rise to an imminent risk of serious bodily injury to the workers concerned.

Clear departmental guidelines will be prepared to ensure that consistent standards are applied. A channel of appeal will also be introduced.

A government spokesman explained that under the existing legislation, the commissioner was empowered to issue a notice prohibiting any dangerous trade, industrial process or operation in a workplace.

"However, the commissioner has to apply for a court order from a magistrate to stop the operations of a construction site, or any works or machinery therein, even though he may have reasons to believe that there is an imminent risk to the workers concerned," he said.

"A serious accident could occur in the interim if the risks involved have not been effectively eliminated.

"In the case of a construction site, the situation or process to which the court order relates could have changed, or the process have been completed, because of progress on site. Thus, a court order, by the time it is obtained, may not be very effective."

The spokesman noted that the proposed suspension notice was intended to deal with a situation where workers were exposed to an imminent risk of serious bodily injury. To tackle less serious situation, it was proposed that the commissioner should be empowered to issue improvement notices to require proprietors and contractors to rectify breaches of the law within a specified period.