TNAG-1858-FCO40-2633-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 131

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

香港立法局————————一九八九年七月十九日

19 July 1989

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SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, the representative of the Director of Fire Services, who is the licensing authority for compressed gases under the Dangerous Goods Ordinance, will chair the working party. This is now being convened in liaison with the Attorney General's Chambers, the Lands and Works, Health and Welfare, and Economic Services Branches, the Environmental Protection Department, the Gas Standards Office of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, and the Pressure Equipment Division of the Labour Department, all of whom will nominate representatives. The Hong Kong Oxygen Company will also be represented and it is possible that their parent companies, L'Air Liquide and British Oxygen, will be involved in the internal review. The first meeting will take place, as I have said, Sir, in early August.

DR. LEONG: Sir, will the Administration inform this Council how they would go about implementing the recommendations of the inquest, especially in relation to the principles concerning the gas supplier? And in this regard, I would like to stress that the company concerned is the sole supplier of such gases in Hong Kong.

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, the Administration will go about this by means of the working party which will examine each of the riders attached to the verdict of the jury. The Director of Fire Services is the relevant authority for these matters under the Dangerous Goods Ordinance, other than for the Academy of Medicine matter, which is one of the first parts of the jury's recommendations, and the establishment of the colour coding for containers. It will be for the Director of Fire Services to receive the report of the working party, and any other matters arising from the deliberations of the working party will be referred to the appropriate government department or policy branch concerned. Copies of the minutes and the conclusions and recommendations of the working party will, in any case, also be sent to the Secretary for Health and Welfare, the Attorney General and myself.

MR. PETER WONG: Sir, can the Secretary please confirm that all hospitals in Hong Kong, whether they be public, or subvented, or private, have these oxygen monitoring devices in operation in the operating theatres?

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, I would like to ask my honourable friend, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, to answer that question.

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