ENG-1988 — Page 130

EMPLOYMENT

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Authority to run training courses to train safety officers and safety supervisors for the construction industry.

The Safety Programme Promotion Unit helped industry to develop a sense of self- regulation towards the promotion of in-plant safety and health. The unit assisted manage- ment and employees to recognise and rectify safety and health hazards and to develop or improve their own in-plant safety and health programmes. Guidance materials were published regularly to assist industry to understand the technical aspects of self-regulation. The unit also assisted in organising seminars, safety training courses and other activities to promote the concept of self-regulation. In July, a three-day Residential Seminar on Self- Regulatory Approaches in Labour Inspection was organised jointly with the Asian and Pacific Project for Labour Administration of the International Labour Organisation.

The Factory Inspectorate, in collaboration with the Information Services Department - GIS - continued its publicity programme for the promotion of industrial safety through extensive use of the media and other means. Eight episodes of documentary drama were presented between July and August as part of the popular television programme ‘Enjoy Yourself Tonight'.

The Labour Advisory Board Industrial Safety and Health Committee and the six industry-based safety sub-committees formed under it continued to undertake various activities to promote work safety. These activities included the preparation of codes and pamphlets on safe practices, safety seminars, an industrial safety carnival day and promotional visits to factories and construction sites.

The Occupational Safety and Health Council Ordinance was enacted by the Legislative Council in July. The main objects of this ordinance are to establish a statutory body with the purpose of fostering, through safety education, training and promotion, safer and healthier working conditions in Hong Kong and to provide for the payment of a levy by employers to provide the council with the funds necessary for its establishment, mainten- ance and operation. The council's first meeting was held in September.

The Boilers and Pressure Receivers (Amendment) Ordinance (1988) was enacted and came into force in December. The title of the Ordinance is now the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance. The Commissioner for Labour has been appointed as the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Authority under the Ordinance. He has delegated most of his powers to officers of the Pressure Equipment Division of the Labour Department.

The Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance stipulates that boilers, steam receivers, steam containers, air receivers and pressurised cement tanks mounted on trucks or trailers must be approved and registered with the Pressure Equipment Division and must be examined periodically by qualified engineers in the private sector acting as appointed examiners. Thermal oil heaters are now included in the definition of a boiler. The division monitors the operation of pressure equipment through spot checks to ensure compliance with statutory requirements and carries out investigations into accidents involving pressure equipments.

The Boilers and Pressure Vessels Authority has the power to recognise independent inspection bodies for assisting in the system of control under the Ordinance.

The Pressure Equipment Division conducts examinations for boiler attendants for the issue of certificates of compentency under the same Ordinance. Under the Gasholders Examination Ordinance, the division approves the design of gasholders and carries out inspections during fabrication and repairs, and subsequent annual inspections.

In collaboration with the Haking Wong Technical Institute, the devision organises comprehensive training courses for attendants operating electrically-heated boilers. Short