ENG-1992 — Page 133

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EMPLOYMENT

Industrial Safety

The Factory Inspectorate of the Labour Department is responsible for enforcing the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations. These regulations provide for the safety and health of workers in factories, restaurants, catering establishments, building and engineering construction sites and other industrial under- takings. Advice and assistance are given to managements on various safety and health aspects, including the adoption of safe working practices and factory layouts to achieve a better working environment. The inspectorate also investigates industrial accidents and dangerous occurrences.

The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Cargo Handling) (Amendment) Regulations and the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Noise at Work) Regulations were enacted in July 1992. The former extends the requirements on safe handling and storage of containers from container ports to all container yards, and the latter provides better protection for employees engaged in noisy work processes.

To promote self-regulation, the Safety Programme Promotion Unit helped industry develop in-plant safety committees. The unit assisted management and workers in identifying and assessing hazards at work and in devising and improving their safety and health programmes. The unit also assisted in organising seminars, safety training courses and other promotional activities. A two-day symposium on safety and health management with training workshops for trainers was organised jointly with the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the International Labour Organisation in May.

The Factory Inspectorate placed much emphasis on the regulatory activities in high-risk areas of factories and construction sites. Special enforcement campaigns were launched in the year to promote machinery safety, fire prevention and construction safety. During these campaigns 23 568 factories, 669 restaurants and catering establishments and 1246 construction sites were inspected and 1 536 summonses were taken out.

Throughout the year, the Industrial Safety Training Centre-conducted courses for workers, supervisors and managers from various industries. Talks on safety at work were organised for teachers and students of technical institutes and special talks were arranged with the Education Department as part of the Summer Job Safety promotional activities. The centre also gave talks on safety management to medical and engineering students of the University of Hong Kong and business students in post-secondary institutions. In collaboration with Hong Kong Polytechnic, the centre continued to organise evening courses leading to the award of a post-experience certificate in industrial safety. It also assisted the Construction Industry Training Authority in running certificate courses for construction safety officers.

The inspectorate, in conjunction with the Information Services Department, continued its publicity programme for the promotion of industrial safety and health. It also assisted the new airport projects co-ordination office in publishing the airport core programme site safety manual for promoting the safety of the new airport projects. Four large-scale symposia and conferences on safety and health management, construction safety, printing safety and safety auditing were held.

A construction site safety award scheme was organised later in the year jointly by the Factory Inspectorate, Housing Department, Hong Kong Construction Association Ltd and Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union.