DRAFT

Speech by Mr Matthew CHEUNG Kin-chung, JP,

Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour (Labour)

at the Inauguration Ceremony for the Safety and Health Expo 2003

and the 12th International Conference on Safe Communities

on 18 March 2003 (Tuesday)

“Managing Occupational Safety and Health in Hong Kong”

Dr Ng, Fellow Keynote Speakers, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

I feel very much honoured to have been invited to deliver the first keynote speech at the Inauguration Ceremony of the Safety and Health Expo 2003 and the 12th International Conference on Safe Communities. As a co-organiser of this international event, I wish to extend my warmest welcome to everyone of you, especially our overseas delegates, to this forum, and to join us in exploring new avenues of meeting the challenges of promoting occupational safety and health.

2. It is, indeed, my privilege today to meet so many prominent experts and professionals from all over the world, and share with you our experience in managing safety and health at work in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong – Asia’s World City

3. As background, I would like to begin my presentation by describing the economic and social environment of Hong Kong, a world city in Asia.

4. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. We have a population of nearly 6.8 million but with only a total area of just over 1,000 square kilometres, giving a population density that is very much higher than that of many other places on earth. Hong Kong has a vibrant economy well known for its completely open market, free competition and entrepreneurship. After decades of development, Hong Kong has emerged as an important regional hub of finance, trade, transport and logistics as well as a premiere tourist destination in the Asia-Pacific Region.

5. During the past decade, we have witnessed a significant structural transformation of Hong Kong’s economy and a redistribution of its labour force, which now stands at 3.5 million. The traditional manufacturing industry has been on the decline for years, offset by a continuous expansion in the service sector. After the opening up of China, an increasing number of our manufacturing activities have been relocated to the Mainland, where land, labour and other costs of production are much lower. Back in 1981, the manufacturing industry provided jobs for close to a million workers, but now, less than 200,000 people work in our factories.

6. The economic adjustments and changing employment profile have altered the landscape of occupational safety and health in Hong Kong. The manufacturing industry is gradually losing its predominance on the occupational safety and health scene. Demand for housing is strong and massive infra-structural construction projects have been a perennial feature in Hong Kong. Construction safety is very high on our agenda. Fatalities from fall from height in construction and renovation work remain to be a problem. But in terms of the number of accidents, the catering industry now tops the list. Fortunately, most of the accidents in the industry are minor in nature.

7. The Labour Department is the principal agency in the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) responsible for ensuring that risks to people’s safety and health at work are properly managed by legislation, education and promotion. Today, I would like to share with you how we rise to the challenges.

Occupational Safety and Health Performance

8. Let me first give you a quick glance at the occupational safety and health performance in Hong Kong. In 1997, there were 62,776 occupational injuries, of which 43,305 were industrial accidents. Such injuries included those which resulted in death and incapacity for work for over three consecutive days. The overall accident rate was 24.9 per thousand workers and 59.6 for the industrial sector. Our records five years ago, I must confess, did not compare very favourably with those of other territories at a comparable stage of development.

9. However, we have come a long way since then and made notable improvements across the board in our occupational safety and health performance. In 2001, the number of occupational injuries was reduced by 14.4% to 53,719. Accident rate also fell from 24.9 in 1997 to 21.6, representing a drop of 13.3%. As for the industrial sector, the number of work accidents fell by 34.1% to 28,518 in 2001, and the accident rate by 25.2% to 44.6 per thousand workers.

10. We are particularly pleased to note the more impressive improvement in the construction sector. The number of construction accidents was reduced by half from 18,559 in 1997 to 9,206 in 2001. The accident rate per thousand workers was also halved from 227.4 in 1997 to 114.6 in 2001.

11. Apart from the accident statistics, tThe number of confirmed occupational diseases is another key indicator of our oOccupational sSafety and hHealth performance. It is encouraging to note that the number of confirmed occupational diseases showed a declining trend in recent years, with the figure reduced from 555 in 1997 to 430 in 2001.is decreasing in recent 4 years. In 1998, there were 948 cases of confirmed occupational diseases, which decreased to 430 cases in 2001. The major reason for this sharp decrease was the significant drop in the number of cases of occupational deafness from 314631 cases to 121 casesoverwithin the same that period. of time. The second commonest occupational disease in Hong Kong is silicosis. The number of silicosis was stable in last 5 years with about 100 cases annually. Nevertheless, coupled with the growth of the services sectors, the number of cases of tenosynovitis of hand or forearm increased from 54 in 1997 to 90 in 2001.

12. Nevertheless, coupled wWith the growth of the increasing people working in Sservices sectorsIndustry, the number of cases of “tTenosynovitis of hand or forearm” increaseding from 54cases in 1997 to 90 casesin 2001.

123. The figures of occupational diseases and injuries and confirmed occupational diseases for the first three quarters of 2002 also indicate a continued downward trend. The number of occupational injuries fell from 41,449 in the same period of 2001 to 35,654, down 14%; the accident rate per thousand workers also decreased from 22.1 in 2001 to 19.4, a drop of 12.3%; while the number of confirmed occupational diseases fell from 430 in 2001 to 364, down 15.3%. These figures are telling. Occupational safety and health in Hong Kong is clearly improving. But we will not, and should not, be complacent. We will continue to put in our best efforts to bring the accident toll further down. We are planning to introduce trade tests and registration of construction workers. We hope to achieve a higher construction safety performance when the registration system is fully implemented.

Strategy for Improving Safety and Health at Work

13. The Hong Kong Government is firmly committed to enhancing the standards of safety and health at work. We subscribe to the well-tested principle that the primary responsibility for occupational safety and health rests with those who create the risks and those who work with them. Employers have a duty, both morally and legally, to ensure the safety and health at work of all those under their employ. Employees, on the other hand, must cooperate with their employers and do not put their lives and those of others at risk.

14. Our strategy is, therefore, to foster self-regulation by duty holders. We also believe that the adoption of safety management system at enterprise level is the key to achieving self-regulation and, hence, improvement in the standards of safety and health in our workplaces in the long run. We have, in fact, been gradually shifting our emphasis from enforcement to promoting safety management with the ultimate objective of self-regulation by duty holders.

15. But the commitment and efforts of the Government are only part of the story. Safety and health at work is a shared responsibility. The achievement of long-term improvement in work safety calls for the joint efforts of employers, employees, relevant professionals, related bodies and the Government. It is only by working together that we can achieve sustainable improvement in safety and health at work. On the part of the Government, we will continue to work hand in hand with our key stakeholders to foster a strong safety culture in Hong Kong.

16. Now, I wish to share with you our three-pronged approach to occupational safety and health at work, namely, legislation, education and promotion.

Legislation

17. On legislation, I would like to touch on the legal framework for occupational safety and health in Hong Kong as well as some of our major legislative initiatives in recent years.

(a)  The Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance

18. The first piece of workplace safety legislation dated back to 1955 when the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance was enacted. The enactment in fact marked the beginning of our long battle against accidents and ill health at work. Over the years, subsidiary regulations controlling specific safety and health hazards in the industrial sector have been made under the Ordinance. Today, the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, together with its 30 sets of subsidiary regulations, form the main legal framework for safety and health at work in industrial workplaces, which include factories, construction sites, container handling depots and catering establishments.

(b)  Extension of Safety and Health Protection to Non-industrial Sector –Enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance

19. For many years, we concentrated our efforts primarily on improving the safety and health at work in the industrial sector. We adopted this strategy because the industrial sector accounted for the bulk of work accidents. However, the focus of our work had been broadened substantially following the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance in 1997, another piece of landmark legislation on occupational safety and health in Hong Kong. The Ordinance, in effect, extended safety and health protection to practically all branches of economic activities. As a result, the number of employees that comes under the protection of safety and health legislation rose from one million to over three million.

(c)  Legislation on Safety Management

20. As I mentioned earlier, we have been gradually migrating from the prescriptive approach to the safety management approach, with the coming into force of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation in April 2002.

21. The Regulation provides a legal framework for the implementation of a safety management system. It requires certain high-risk industrial undertakings, including factories and construction sites, with a workforce of 50 of more, to implement safety management systems of varying complexity. It also requires these industrial undertakings to conduct safety audits or reviews at regular intervals. Safety audits must be carried out by safety auditors registered with the Labour Department.

(d)  Legislation on Display Screen Equipment

22. With the growing use of computers, more and more employees are now using display screen equipment for prolonged periods of time. Coupled with this phenomenon, there are increasing concerns about related health problems, such as eyestrain, and back pain and tenosynovitis of hand or forearm.

23. To protect the safety and health of prolonged users of display screen equipment, we introduced the Occupational Safety and Health (Display Screen Equipment) Regulation in April last year. The Regulation requires the person responsible for a workplace to perform a risk assessment of a workstation and take steps to reduce any risks identified. Employers are required to provide users with the necessary safety and health training while the latter have to comply with precautionary measures.

Enforcement

24. I shall now move on to another equally important area of our work – enforcement. Despite increasing emphasis on safety management and self-regulation, regulatory control and enforcement actions remain a vital means to secure compliance with safety and health legislation. They provide an effective deterrent to prospective offenders.

(a)  Prosecution and Enforcement Notices

25. We are firm on enforcement and would not hesitate to apply the “stick” against blatant offenders of safety and health laws. In 2002, the courts of Hong Kong heard some 2,500 cases of occupational safety and health offences and imposed a total fine of over HK$30 million (about US$3.8 million). More than two-thirds of these cases were related to construction safety.

26. Since 1996, our enforcement arm has been reinforced by the power to issue Suspension Notices and Improvement Notices. A Suspension Notice is issued on the spot for a work situation posing an imminent risk of death or serious bodily injury. The Improvement Notices, on the other hand, are used to secure compliance with the safety and health legislation. Last year, we issued nearly 2,000 such notices in addition to direct prosecutions.

(b)  Poor Performers

27. Targeting at poor performers in safety and health at work is one of our important enforcement strategies. We will approach companies with high accident toll and, through discussions and advice, impress upon them the need to improve safety and health performance of their workplaces. These establishments are kept under close surveillance. For those who choose to ignore our advice and continue to put their workers at risk, we will not hesitate to bring the full force of the law against them.