Page 99 of 136
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was
Council. This is especially so in case of the larger canteens which may cater for over one hundred workers a day. An example of such desirability found in a major outbreak of food poisoning in 1976 involving a canteen in a factory in Kwun Tong, and affecting more than 100 workers, the cause of which was traceable to lack of adequate hygienic control. This testifies to the seriousness of the problem.
It was also at about the same time that it was recognized that there was another growing problem which workers in industrial areas had to face every day in finding a hygienic place to enjoy a quick and wholesome mid-day meal during their lunch-breaks. Because of the following factors, the blue-collar workers' lunch problems became more and more severe:-
(i) the high land-price in industrial zones which made it very uneconomical for individual smaller-scale factories to set aside portions of their factories for use as canteens for their workers;
(ii) the inadequacy of non-industrial buildings in industrial areas or around the perimeter of industrial areas, wherein to set up and operate restaurants; and
(iii) the existing legislation which limits the use of a canteen only to those workers employed in the factory which provides that canteen.
As expected, the inadequacy of public eating facilities in industrial areas has given rise to an increasing number of hawkers in back streets and side lanes in industrial areas selling cooked food under unhygienic conditions to factory workers.
There was in addition another complicating factor which was found in the lease conditions for a limited number of industrial sites, requiring the provision of communal canteens in the building erected thereon. Such a lease condition had put the building owner in a dilemma of either complying with the lease condition in providing a communal canteen for all factories in the building thereby contravening the law under the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance which limits one canteen to one factory, or conversely complying with such legislation thereby contravening the lease condition.
This unsatisfactory state of affairs needed rectification, and a solution had to be found. The most straightforward solution, of course, would be to license canteens in industrial buildings as restaurants under the existing legislation. Consultations towards this end among interested Government departments began. After lengthy exchanges of views, it became obvious that, with the strong views of one particular department, for reasons of public safety, it would be inadvisable to license canteens as restaurants inside industrial buildings, into which any member of the public, including the young, the old and the feeble, may be admitted.
With the way towards an easy solution being thus blocked, it was necessary to start afresh looking for another solution. This was found in the creation of another class of food business, namely, 'factory canteens'. Under this solution canteens in industrial buildings will be licensed as 'factory canteens', which will have the following features:
(i) that 'factory canteens' will only be allowed to serve workers employed in factories located in the same building as the canteens; and
(ii) that they will be licensed under slightly relaxed health requirements than those applicable to general restaurants, for example-
(a) the ratio of food preparation space to the gross floor area will be less stringent than that applicable to general restaurants; and
(b) the licensing fees will be less than those payable by general restaurants.
It is hoped that such a solution, which seeks to legalize the extension of the services of a canteen in industrial buildings to workers from other factories located in the same building, would produce the following added results:
(i) that existing canteens in industrial buildings would take the cue and open their doors to other workers in the same building, thereby increasing, without any additional capital costs, the existing food-catering capacities in the land-scarce industrial areas to the benefit of the blue-collar workers at large;
(ii) that factory owners and managers would find it economically more viable to set up and operate canteens, partly as a welfare provision for their own workers and partly as a business enterprise since it would then be permissible for these canteens to serve, as well, workers from other factories in the same industrial building.
Details for implementing the scheme, which will have to be incorporated into the law and the administrative licensing procedure, had to be worked out first. The department started another lengthy round of consultations with other interested Government departments. When these details were finally agreed upon and accepted, the law, of course, had to be amended first. To this end, drafting approval from the Government Secretariat for amending the law has already been sought and granted. In fact, the first draft has recently been produced by the Law Draftsman and is being commented upon by Government departments concerned. It is hoped that before long, when the law is finally amended, 'factory canteens' will contribute their part in solving the mid-day meal problem of the blue-collar workers in the industrial areas of Hong Kong.
Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. AMBROSE K. C. CHOI (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, since the reconstitution of the Urban Council on 1 April 1973, all its 24 members are unofficials. They serve the public with enthusiasm. Besides performing their duties, they also deal with complaints on education, transport, housing, medical and social services, which are outside their jurisdiction but concern the livelihood of the people. But, at present, the ambits of the Council's responsibilities are limited only to Hong Kong island and the Kowloon
Page 99 of 136
165
164
Page 99 of 136
Page 99 of 136
165
164
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
was
Council. This is especially so in case of the larger canteens which may cater for over one hundred workers a day. An example of such desirability found in a major outbreak of food poisoning in 1976 involving a canteen in a factory in Kwun Tong, and affecting more than 100 workers, the cause of which was traceable to lack of adequate hygienic control. This testifies to
the seriousness of the problem.
It was also at about the same time that it was recognized that there was another growing problem which workers in industrial areas had to face every day in finding a hygienic place to enjoy a quick and wholesome mid-day meal during their lunch-breaks. Because of the following factors, the blue.
collar workers' lunch problems became more and more severe :-
(i) the high land-price in industrial zones which made it very uneconomical for individual smaller-scale factories to set aside portions of their factories for use as canteens for their workers;
(ii) the inadequacy of non-industrial buildings in industrial areas or around the perimeter of industrial areas, wherein to set up and operate
restaurants; and
(iii) the existing legislation which limits the use of a canteen only to those workers employed in the factory which provides that canteen.
As expected, the inadequacy of public eating facilities in industrial areas has given rise to an increasing number of hawkers in back streets and side lanes in industrial areas selling cooked food under unhygienic conditions to factory workers.
There was in addition another complicating factor which was found in the lease conditions for a limited number of industrial sites, requiring the provision of communal canteens in the building erected thereon. Such a lease condition had put the building owner in a dilemma of either complying with the lease condition in providing a communal canteen for all factories in the building thereby contravening the law under the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance which limits one canteen to one factory, or conversely complying with such legislation thereby contravening the lease condition.
This unsatisfactory state of affairs needed rectification, and a solution had to be found. The most straightforward solution, of course, would be to license canteens in industrial buildings as restaurants under the existing legislation. Consultations towards this end among interested Government departments began. After lengthy exchanges of views, it became obvious that, with the strong views of one particular department, for reasons of public safety, it would be inadvisable to license canteens as restaurants inside industrial buildings, into which any member of the public, including the young, the old and the feeble, may be admitted.
With the way towards an easy solution being thus blocked, it was necessary to start afresh looking for another solution. This was found in the creation of another class of food business, namely, 'factory canteens'. Under this
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
solution canteens in industrial buildings will be licensed as 'factory canteens', which will have the following features:
(i) that factory canteens' will only be allowed to serve workers employed
in factories located in the same building as the canteens; and (ii) that they will be licensed under slightly relaxed health requirements
than those applicable to general restaurants, for example- (a) the ratio of food preparation space to the gross floor area will be less stringent than that applicable to general restaurants; and (b) the licensing fees will be less than those payable by general
restaurants.
It is hoped that such a solution, which seeks to legalize the extension of the services of a canteen in industrial buildings to workers from other factories located in the same building, would produce the following added results:
(i) that existing canteens in industrial buildings would take the cue and open their doors to other workers in the same building, thereby in- creasing, without any additional capital costs, the existing food- catering capacities in the land-scarce industrial areas to the benefit of the blue-collar workers at large;
(ii) that factory owners and managers would find it economically more viable to set up and operate canteens, partly as a welfare provision for their own workers and partly as a business enterprise since it would then be permissible for these canteens to serve, as well, workers from other factories in the same industrial building.
Details for implementing the scheme, which will have to be incorporated into the law and the administrative licensing procedure, had to be worked out first. The department started another lengthy round of consultations with other interested Government departments. When these details were finally agreed, upon and accepted, the law, of course, had to be amended first. To this end, drafting approval from the Government Secretariat for amending the law has already been sought and granted. In fact, the first draft has recently been produced by the Law Draftsman and is being commented upon by Government departments concerned. It is hoped that before long, when the law is finally amended, 'factory canteens' will contribute their part in solving the mid-day meal problem of the blue-collar workers in the industrial areas
Hong Kong.
Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. AMBROSE K. C. CHOI (in Cantonese): -Mr. Chairman, since the re- constitution of the Urban Council on 1 April 1973, all its 24 members are unofficials. They serve the public with enthusiasm. Besides performing their duties, they also deal with complaints on education, transport, housing, medical and social services, which are outside their jurisdiction but concern the livelihood of the people. But, at present, the ambits of the Council's responsibilities are limited only to Hong Kong island and the Kowloon
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