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EMPLOYMENT
Throughout the year, the Factory Inspectorate's Industrial Safety Training Centre provided safety training courses for students of technical institutes and workers from various industries. The centre displays machine guards, models depicting safe working practices on construction sites and various types of personal protective equipment.
Pressure Equipment
The Pressure Equipment Unit of the Labour Department ensures the safe use and operation of all steam boilers and compressed air receivers installed in factories and gasholders for storage of town gas. It also provides technical advice to the government and industry on matters relating to pressure equipment.
The initial design, scrutiny and physical inspection of pressure equipment under the Boilers and Pressure Receivers Ordinance is, however, carried out by engineers in the private sector. At the end of the year, about 50 engineers were 'Appointed Examiners' under the ordinance.
Industrial Health and Hygiene
The Industrial Health Division of the Labour Department provides an advisory service to the government and industry on matters relating to the health of workers, the hygiene of the workplace and occupational health standards and practice. The division is concerned with maintaining and improving the physical and mental well-being of workers, protecting them against any hazards arising from their employment and helping them to adjust to their tasks.
The need to develop occupational health services to cope with the increase in population and expansion of industry in recent years has been recognised in the White Paper on 'The Further Development of Medical and Health Services'. A consultant in occupational health has been appointed as head of the division to plan and guide the expansion of these services. The prime responsibilities of the division are to investigate notified occupational diseases and potential hazards reported by the factory inspectorate and to determine preventive action. Surveys and monitoring of processes involving possible physical, chemical or biological hazards are also undertaken. The medical examination of personnel exposed to ionizing radiating, government divers and compressed air workers is another activity aimed at ensuring that workers are physically fit for their task and that the work does not adversely affect their health.
Industrial health officers, health visitors and nurses of the division are also involved in the assessment and rehabilitation of injured workers and the staffing of medical boards required to implement the Employees' Compensation Ordinance and deal with cases of silicosis under the Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance.
The laboratory of the Industrial Health Division carries out analytical tests on biological samples from workers' urine, blood, and other samples from the working environment such as concentration of silica. It also assists in conducting analyses required by the general air pollution monitoring programme in Hong Kong.
Employees' Compensation
The Employees' Compensation Division of the Labour Department administers the Em- ployees' Compensation Ordinance and the Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance. The division ensures that injured employees and dependents of deceased employees covered by the Employees' Compensation Ordinance obtain from the employers, compensation in respect of injuries or death caused by accidents or occupational diseases arising out of and
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