ENG-2005 — Page 180

146 | Employment

must be in possession of a valid insurance policy to cover his liabilities both under the ordinance and common law.

The Labour Department started a review of the employees' compensation insurance system in Hong Kong in 2004 and consulted the Labour Advisory Board in 2005 on ways to improve the system. As a result, the insurance industry agreed to introduce a number of improvement measures, including the setting up of a residual scheme in 2006 to provide employees' compensation insurance cover to employers who cannot obtain such cover from the market. The industry also promised to facilitate the rehabilitation of injured workers and help promote occupational safety and health.

The Employees' Compensation Division of the Labour Department, which administers the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, assists injured employees and deceased employees' families to obtain compensation from their employers and administers a scheme to provide interest-free loans if they need financial assistance as a result of a work-related accident. In 2005, loans totalling $330,000 were made to 17 injured employees and the families of five dead employees.

The Employees Compensation Assistance Scheme provides assistance for injured employees or family members of deceased employees in cases where employers default payment of compensation for work-related injuries. The scheme is financed by a levy imposed on all employees' compensation insurance policies taken out by employers.

By the end of the year, the Labour Department had received 415 employees' compensation claims (including nine fatal cases) relating to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) reported by employers under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance. Since employees infected with SARS might have residual complications, they would be fit for assessment by the Employees' Compensation Assessment Board only when their medical conditions had stabilised. By year-end, the Labour Department had arranged for 356 employees infected with SARS to receive assessments for respiratory impairment. As some of the SARS employees had other complications and had received treatment from orthopaedic, endocrine and other specialists, the department also arranged assessments by the relevant specialists. As a result of the department's follow-up action, the statutory compensation claims in seven fatal cases and 201 non-fatal cases have been resolved with the issue of certificates of compensation assessment by the department.

Pneumoconiosis sufferers are eligible for compensation under the Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance administered by the Pneumoconiosis Compensation Fund Board. Those diagnosed prior to the commencement of the ordinance in 1981 may receive ex gratia benefits from the Government under the Pneumoconiosis Ex Gratia Scheme. By the end of the year, 2 185 pneumoconiosis sufferers were receiving compensation in the form of monthly/quarterly payments under the ordinance or the ex gratia scheme. Family members of 92 pneumoconiosis sufferers who died as a result of the disease were also granted compensation.

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