XN000022-1997-02-26 — Page 8

7 -

requiring contractors to arrange safety training for their workers;

safety talks organised by the Fires Services Department and the Marine Department for contractors' safety personnel, workers and resident site staff;

implementing Pay for Safety Scheme and Independent Safety Auditing Scheme in Government contracts for which tenders were invited after April 1996; and

amending the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance in July 1996 to empower the Labour Department to issue Suspension Notices to contractors when potential risks to construction safety are detected.

Also officiating at the award presentation ceremony, the Convenor of the Sub- committee on Works Progress, Cost Monitoring and Financial Matters of the Airport Consultative Committee (ACC), Mr Kan Fook-yee, said one of ACC's key concerns was the safety of workers on various ACP sites.

"We firmly believe that industrial safety must not be compromised by programme or cost considerations and when talking about successful completion of our new airport projects, minimum casualties will also be taken as one of the important factors to measure success during the course of construction," he said.

The annual ACP Construction Safety Award Scheme was introduced in 1993 to promote construction safety on ACP work sites and to reduce accidents.

Nine sites with high quality of safety management and good safety records have won the Safety Management Award.

The Safety Record Award were won by six sites while the Safety Promotion Award was presented to three sites.

The 18 sites belong to a total of 12 contractors.

Among those who presented prizes to the winners were the Chairman of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union, Mr Poon To-chuen; the President (designate) of the Hong Kong Construction Association, Mr Jimmy Tse; the President of the Hong Kong Electrical and Mechanical Contractors' Association, Mr James Chiu; the Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Council, Professor Leung Ping-chung; the Commissioner for Labour, Miss Jacqueline Wills; the Director of Fire Services, Mr Peter Cheung and the Director of New Airport Projects Co- ordination Office, Mr Billy Lam.

End