TNAG-1731-FCO40-2444-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 153

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4.30

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He said:

Government Business

Motion

PRAET

内部文件不得在 011年五月二十日下午四時半前發表

Motion by the Secretary for Education & Manpower

in the Legislative Council on 25 May 1988

Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance (a360)

THE SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER moved the following motion: That the resolution made and passed by the Legislative Council on 3 December 1980 as amended be further amended by deleting '0.05 per cent' in paragraphs (a) and (c) and substituting in each place '0.02 per cent'.

Sir,

I move the resolution standing in my name on the

Order Paper.

Pneumoconiosis

is

a

very unpleasant and

debilitating disease caused by inhaling silica

asbestos

dust. It mainly affects construction and quarry workers and

in 1979 there were over 1,600 workers suffering from the

disease.

We

therefore

enacted

the Pneumoconiosis

(Compensation) Ordinance to provide a compensation fund for

the victims.

We have for many years now had regulations under

the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance obliging

employers to provide adequate ventilation in working places

the and to take adequate measures to protect employees from

inhaling dust. In 1986, we introduced further regulations

controlling the conditions under which asbestos is used and

providing for the use of approved breathing apparatus. The

result of all these measures has been a very encouraging

reduction in the number of workers found to suffer from the

disease and SO qualifying for compensation. The number

dropped from 472 in 1982 to 166 in 1987.