ENG-2010 — Page 181

Employment | 135

Promotion and Education

As the result of a rise in accidents from working at height and renovation, maintenance, alteration and addition (RMAA) works, the department in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Council launched a large-scale two-year publicity programme with new initiatives to reach out directly to contractors and workers engaged in such work. The programme is aimed at raising their safety awareness and impressing upon them the importance of safety in RMAA works and work-at-height. The department also continued to promote the Occupational Safety Charter and Workplace Hygiene Charter which calls on employers and employees to create and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. It also organised safety award schemes for the construction and catering industries.

The Labour Department conducts courses and talks to help workers better understand the occupational safety and health laws, and gives health talks at workplaces. During the year, over 800 courses and talks on relevant legislation were held for some 13 700 employees. The department also held over 1 300 health talks which were attended by some 42 000 people.

In 2010, the department stepped up publicity on heat stroke prevention and drew up two checklists, one for construction sites and the other for outdoor cleansing workplaces, to facilitate further contractors/employers and workers in these two industries to assess the risk of heat stroke at their workplaces. In order to raise employers' and employees' awareness of the health risk of outdoor work under high air pollution levels, the department also developed a checklist to provide practical guidance on the risk assessment under such conditions.

Occupational Health Clinics

The Labour Department provides occupational health services to workers at its occupational health clinics in Kwun Tong and Fanling. Together they held some 13 000 clinical consultations with workers during the year.

Occupational Safety and Health Council

The Occupational Safety and Health Council is charged with the mission of promoting a culture of respect for safety and health in workplaces. The council works closely with various industries to promote safe and healthy workplace principles. It also provides training, publicity, consultancy, research and an information service to drive home the message that conditions at workplaces must be safe and healthy.

During the year, 1 624 courses on occupational safety and health were held, attended by 41 764 trainees. The Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications announced in July that the council was competent to offer certification courses under Level 3 of the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework. The Employees Retraining Board also appointed the council to provide occupational safety and health training courses under the 'Skills Upgrading Scheme Plus' to increase the efficiency of trainees and to protect the safety and health of Hong Kong's workforce through these training courses.