XN000022-1996-06-18 — Page 3

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OSHC, together with the Labour Department, will organise shortly a series of seminars for some 400 safety officers in the private sector who have direct responsibility for industrial safety.

The Education and Manpower Branch in the next month or so will publish a charter for safety at workplace setting out the rights of workers to enjoy a safe working environment and the employers' obligations to reduce their employees' exposure to risks of accidents. It will also highlight worker's obligations to follow safety instructions and to co- operate with the relevant authorities in reporting breaches of statutory requirements. OSHC will be tasked to promote the Charter.

The Government will explore the possibility of tightening the rules on suspending from tendering for government works projects those contractors with an unsatisfactory industrial safety record.

The Government will consider taking account of the previous industrial safety records of the companies concerned in determining their eligibility to import workers under the Special Labour Importation Scheme for the New Airport and Related Projects and under the Supplementary Labour Scheme.

The Government will consider the need to strengthen existing industrial safety legislation for operations both on land and at sea.

The Government will urge the Legislative Council to expedite its scrutiny of two important pieces of draft legislation which will greatly enhance industrial safety. The first, the Buildings Amendment (No 3) Bill, seeks to provide a safety supervisory system at building sites and make architects and engineers criminally responsible for safety measures on site.

The second, the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Amendment) Bill 1996, seeks to empower the Commissioner for Labour to issue suspension notices or improvement notices. This will enable the Commissioner to stop immediately any operation or machinery at a construction site which may pose an imminent risk of serious injuries to workers.

The Secretary for Education and Manpower said investigation was continuing into the various major industrial accidents which took place over the past weeks. Reports on individual cases are expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

Describing the meeting this morning as a useful and productive one, Mr Wong said the Education and Manpower Branch would continue to play a co-ordinating role and monitor the situation closely.