Determination to safeguard work safety and health reaffirmed

The Labour Department has over the years spared no efforts in ensuring that risks at work are properly managed through legislation, education and promotion. 

Speaking at the Curtin University of Technology Graduation Ceremony held in Hong Kong today (May 7), the Commissioner for Labour, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, reaffirmed the Government's determination to safeguard the safety and health of those at work.

"To achieve this objective, we have been directing our efforts on all fronts, from promotional programmes such as the launching of the Occupational Safety Charter and the staging of various campaigns, to tough enforcement actions including the audit of a company's safety management system by the Labour Department's multi-disciplinary teams and the issue of improvement notices or suspension notices," Mr Cheung said.

"Our efforts have started to pay good dividends, as evidenced by the encouraging improvement in our occupational safety and health record," he continued.

In 1999, there was a seven per cent drop from 63,526 to 58,841 in the number of occupational injuries in all economic activities when compared with the previous year. 

The number of industrial accidents recorded a marked decrease of more than 16 per cent, from 43,034 in 1998 to 35,986 in 1999 and the accident rate (i.e. the number of accidents per 1,000 employees) for all industries also dropped substantially by 15 per cent. 

He said that the 28 per cent reduction in the number of accidents in the construction industry, from 19,588 in 1998 to 14,078 in 1999, and the 20 per cent fall in accident rate were particularly noteworthy, adding that other high-risk and accident-prone sectors like manufacturing and catering also witnessed noticeable improvements in safety performance.

 "These remarkable developments represent huge savings for the employers, as well as much less human suffering arising from injuries and disabilities of the employees," he said.

Nevertheless, Mr Cheung said, "Despite the considerable progress in our safety record, we must not be complacent or relax our efforts." 

"With the gradual transition from the traditional prescriptive to the new self-regulatory approach to safety management that calls for the concerted action of all major stake-holders, education and training in occupational safety and health have become more crucial than ever," he said.

Turning to education in Hong Kong, Mr Cheung said, "Education is pivotal to our future development.  It is also a key policy area to which the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region attaches the greatest importance." 

"With the globalisation of the world economy, and as we move increasingly towards a knowledge-driven, higher value added and information age, our education system must have to move with the times," he continued.

"Our goal is to train our students to be truly biliterate (that is able to master the written languages of English and Chinese) and trilingual (that is able to speak good Cantonese, Putonghua and English). They also have to be Information Technology-literate. 

"We also seek to foster in them a life-long interest in learning so that they are able to upgrade their knowledge and skills throughout their lives," he said.

To this end, the Government had been investing heavily in education as human resources was the key to the development of our economy.

Mr Cheung noted that public funding for education had increased at a rate surpassing the average growth of our public expenditure. 

The total government expenditure on education rose from 2.99 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in 1996/97 to 3.8 per cent in 1999/2000.  A further increase to 4.15 per cent is envisaged in the 2000/01 financial year. 

"Indeed, the current total expenditure on education represents 22.3 per cent of the total government expenditure, a proportion larger than those of many developed economies," he said. 

As Commissioner for Labour, Mr Cheung said he always encouraged his staff to participate in various forms of training to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to meet tomorrow's needs.

"The Labour Department is not just a department offering multi-farious services to the public, but also a dynamic, innovative and learning organisation forever ready to improve and to take on new challenges," he said.

Curtin University of Technology is based in Perth of Western Australia. It has been offering academic programmes jointly with the major tertiary institutions in Hong Kong since 1992.