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Employers & employees have shared responsibility over safety

Safety laws do not have much meaning unless both the employer and the employee sides recognise a shared responsibility, the Deputy Commissioner for Labour (Occupational Safety and Health), Mr Lee Kai-fat, said today (Thursday).

Speaking at the signing ceremony of Occupational Safety Charter of Wellcome Company, Mr Lee said this was the only way to bring about improvements to work place conditions, from which we could all benefit.

"The Charter itself is not a legal document. It conveys, however, a very important message: if we are to promote work safety, employers and employees must join hands and work together.

"Employees are entitled to operate in a safe and healthy working environment, and employers should see it as a responsibility to provide the same to their employees. It is only through a spirit of co-operation that we can create a safety culture and benefit for a shared responsibility," Mr Lee said.

He said a proposed Occupational Safety and Health Bill was being examined by the Legislative Council's Bills Committee and he was confident that it would be endorsed in the early part this year.

"We will be producing guidance materials for different major trades on how to comply with the new law. We would clearly take account of the operating business environment of Hong Kong and the practical needs of the workers in relation to their risk exposure and accident records.

"The proposed legislation will net in almost all non-industrial establishments including retail businesses like supermarket chain.

"This means employers of the non-industrial establishments will soon have a general duty under the new law to provide a safe and healthy working condition, and employees too must cooperate with their employers by following safety and health instructions, receiving training, putting on personal protective equipment and taking good care of themselves as well as their fellow workers," he said.

In our view, Mr Lee said, subscribing to the Occupational Safety Charter was a positive way to support the new legislation and the spirit behind it.

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