Highlights

​The Labour Department (LD) is highly concerned about a fatal work accident that happened in Sha Tin last night (April 22), involving four workers performing drainage work at manholes. Two of them were certified dead later in hospital, and the other two did not feel well and stayed in hospital. The LD is saddened by the deaths of the workers and expresses its deepest sympathies to the victims' families.

The Labour Department (LD) is highly concerned about a fatal work accident that happened at a construction site in Kwai Chung yesterday afternoon (March 21), in which a male worker was suspected of having fallen from a bamboo scaffold on the external wall of a building to the ground. He was certified dead at the scene. The LD is saddened by the death of the worker and expresses its deepest sympathy to his family.

The Government has launched the 2024 Greater Bay Area (GBA) Youth Employment Scheme. Enterprises with businesses in both Hong Kong and the GBA Mainland cities and Hong Kong residents awarded bachelor’s degrees or above from 2022 to 2024 are eligible to join the scheme. Participating enterprises shall employ eligible young people in accordance with Hong Kong laws, offer them a monthly salary of not less than HK$18,000 and station them in the GBA Mainland cities to work and receive on-the-job training. The Government will grant a monthly allowance of HK$10,000 to enterprises for each employed young person for a period up to 18 months. For details, please visit the scheme website (www.jobs.gov.hk/gbayes) or call the hotlines 2969 0460/2969 0446.

The "Catering Industry Safety Photo cum Slogan Competition" is one of the key activities of the "Catering Industry Safety Promotional Campaign 2023/2024", which aims to promote a good occupational safety and health culture through public competition. All licensed catering establishments or members of the public aged 18 or above are welcome to register for participation on or before 14 April 2024. The winners of the competition will be presented with trophies and cash coupons.

The "Catering Industry Safety Quiz" is one of the key activities of the "Catering Industry Safety Promotional Campaign 2023/2024", which aims to promote a good occupational safety and health culture through public competition. All licensed catering establishments or members of the public aged 15 or above are welcome to register for participation on or before 14 April 2024. The winners of the quiz will be presented with cash coupons. (Chinese version only)

The Labour Department (LD) is highly concerned about a fatal work accident that happened at a timber warehouse in Sheung Shui this afternoon (March 14), in which a truck driver was struck by a bundle of timbers that fell from the truck during an unloading operation of timbers. He was certified dead at the scene. The LD is saddened by the death of the worker and expresses its deepest sympathy to his family.

The remaining four elements of safety management system shall come into operation on 29 April 2024.

The Labour Department (LD) is highly concerned about a fatal work accident that happened at a construction site in Kai Tak this afternoon (February 20), in which a bamboo scaffold mounted on the external wall of a building suddenly collapsed. As a result, two female workers died and three workers were injured. The LD is saddened by the deaths and injuries of the workers in the accident and expresses its deepest sympathies to the victims' families and the injured workers.

The Catering Industry Safety Video Competition of the Catering Industry Safety Promotional Campaign (2022/2023) was fully completed. Welcome to watch the highlights of the champions’ videos.

The Labour Department (LD) is highly concerned about a fatal work accident that happened at a repair workshop in Chek Lap Kok this afternoon (December 28), in which a man, while dismantling a cargo loader, was trapped by its structural components. He was certified dead at the scene. The LD is saddened by the death of the person and expresses its deepest sympathy to his family.

The Labour Department (LD) is highly concerned about a fatal work accident that happened at a landfill in Ta Kwu Ling yesterday afternoon (December 25), in which a male worker, while assisting in refuse dumping work, was trapped between the rear of a refuse container tractor and a refuse tipper. He was certified dead later in hospital. The LD is saddened by the death of the worker and expresses its deepest sympathy to his family.

Starting from 2024, the first weekday after Christmas Day will be a newly added statutory holiday under the Employment Ordinance. Other relevant provisions in relation to the statutory holidays under the Employment Ordinance remain unchanged, including the arrangement of holiday, eligibility for holiday pay and pay rate, and restriction on pay in lieu of holiday.

To showcase the improvements of trainees after joining YETP as well as to commend the caring efforts of service providers and employers, the Labour Department organises “YETP Most Improved Trainees Awards” every year. Awardees of this year’s Most Improved Trainees Awards and Merit Awards have been selected. Let’s recall the precious moments at the award ceremony!

The Government announced on 29 September 2023 that the Minimum Allowable Wage for foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong will be increased from $4,730 to $4,870 per month. The food allowance will be increased from not less than $1,196 to not less than $1,236 per month.

The list of awardees and the winners’ videos of the Catering Industry Safety Video Competition of the Catering Industry Safety Promotional Campaign (2022/2023) (Chinese version only)

The results of Site Safety Competition (Chinese version only)….

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award presentation ceremony of Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme 2021/2022 was held in a virtual mode. A consolidated video with safety messages delivered by officiating guests and photos of the gold prize winners was produced. The video has been uploaded to the themed page of “Construction Industry Safety”. Welcome to browse.

The Labour Department has issued the “Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work” (“GN”). The GN aims to help employers conduct heat stress risk assessments and strengthen the protection of employees’ occupational health. Employers and employees should establish reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions for working arrangements under hot weather based on the principles of risk-based and joint consultation. The GN will provide a template and examples of risk assessment forms for employers and employees as reference, introduce general preventive measures to reduce employees’ heat stress at work, and recommend work/rest schedules in times of the Heat Stress at Work Warning to prevent heat stroke of employees at work.

The maximum penalties for occupational safety and health offences have been raised.

The Labour Department today (April 14) issued a tender notice on the Provision of Employment Support and Employer Engagement Services for the Racial Diversity Employment Programme (RDEP) for Ethnic Minority Job Seekers.

The new levels of compensation under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance and the Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance, have come into effect on 13 April 2023…

The Government today (March 10) reminded foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) and their employers that the flexibility arrangements to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic will be discontinued on May 1. Employers and FDHs should discuss matters relating to employment, contract renewals or the return to FDHs' places of origin as soon as possible to avoid breaching the relevant requirements.

The Government has launched the regularised Greater Bay Area (GBA) Youth Employment Scheme. Enterprises with businesses in both Hong Kong and the GBA Mainland cities and young people awarded bachelor’s degrees or above from 2021 to 2023 are eligible to join the scheme. Participating enterprises shall employ eligible graduates in accordance with Hong Kong laws, offer them a monthly salary of not less than HK$18,000 and station them in the GBA Mainland cities to work and receive on-the-job training. Allowance will be granted to eligible enterprises. For details, please visit the scheme website (www.jobs.gov.hk/gbayes) or call the hotlines 2969 0460/2969 0446.

The Catering Industry Safety Inspiration Programme (2021/2022) – Catering Industry Safety Slogan Competition has successfully completed. Welcome to watch sharing videos of prize winners.

The answers and list of awardees of the Safety Quiz Competition of the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme 2022/2023 (Chinese version only)….

To showcase the improvements of trainees after joining YETP as well as to commend the caring efforts of service providers and employers, the Labour Department organises “YETP Most Improved Trainees Awards” every year. Awardees of this year’s Most Improved Trainees Awards and Merit Awards have been selected. Let’s recall the precious moments at the award ceremony!

The Labour Department has published the “Guidance Notes on Safety and Health for Prevention of Gas Poisoning in Drainage Works” (“GN”). The GN provides a practical guidance for proprietors, contractors, employers and relevant workers to avoid workers from poisoning due to inhalation of hazardous gases when performing drainage works in confined spaces, and to enhance the OSH awareness of relevant stakeholders. For details, please refer to the GN in “Section B: General Guides on Occupational Health and Hygiene”.

The Government announced on 30 September 2022 that the Minimum Allowable Wage for foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong will be increased from $4,630 to $4,730 per month. The food allowance will be increased from not less than $1,173 to not less than $1,196 per month.

The Labour Department has launched a three-year “Pilot Rehabilitation Programme for Employees Injured at Work” targeting at injured construction employees on 23 September 2022.

The Labour Department has published the “Code of Practice on Mechanical Handling Safety in Container Yards” (“CoP”). The CoP provides a practical guidance to proprietors of industrial undertakings of container handling for compliance with relevant legislation so as to protect the work safety of workers in container yards. This edition has been amended mainly to include the requirements for installing reversing video devices to front loaders and reach stackers. For details, please refer to the Guide in “Part B: Code of Practices”.

The results of the Catering Industry Safety Slogan Competition (Chinese version only) …

In order to enhance the safety awareness of employees engaged in the catering industry, the Labour Department has produced two new animations under the main theme of “Catering Safety Tips” including “Safe Use of Machinery” and “Manual Handling Operations”. Let’s take a look at the animations!

The Labour Department has published the “Guide on Construction and Work Safety of Truss-out Bamboo Scaffolds” (Traditional Chinese webpage version only at this stage) (“Guide”). The Guide consolidates the basic construction requirements of truss-out scaffolds and safety principles for carrying out relevant scaffolding work. Besides, the Guide also provides further safety requirements for erecting special truss-out scaffolds when common truss-out scaffolds cannot be used under special circumstances. The purpose of the Guide is to enhance the construction and work safety of truss-out bamboo scaffolds. For details, please refer to the Guide in “Part D: Other Guidebooks”.

The Labour Department has published a new edition (4th edition) of the “Guidance Notes on Continuing Professional Development Programmes under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisors) Regulations” ("Guidance Notes"). The purpose of these Guidance Notes is to provide guidance for RSOs to pursue CPD Programmes for the purpose of renewing or revalidating their registration as safety officers. This edition has been amended to include adding professional ethics and integrity of safety officers as a compulsory CPD Programme; accepting training on subjects in other learning areas (“OLA”) as CPD Programmes; and adjusting the maximum acceptable CPD hours of each category of CPD Programmes to tie in with the above amendments. The new edition of the Guidance Notes will be effective on 1.1.2023. For details, please refer to the Guidance Notes in “Part C : Guidance Notes”.

Sharing of the winning entries of the Construction Industry Safety Short Film Competition of the Construction Industry Safety Promotional Campaign 2020/2021. (Chinese version only)

The Employees’ Compensation (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 has come into effect since 2 July 2021. The coverage of the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282) is extended to the situation where an employee sustains an injury or dies as a result of an accident when commuting to or from work during the period of “extreme conditions” arising from a super typhoon or other natural disaster of a substantial scale……

The Reimbursement of Maternity Leave Pay (RMLP) Scheme is open for applications from 1 April.

The statutory maternity leave under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) has been extended from 10 weeks to 14 weeks since 11 December 2020. Through the RMLP Scheme, employers may apply for reimbursement of the 11th to 14th weeks’ statutory maternity leave pay paid, subject to a cap of $80,000 per employee.

The Labour Department has produced videos of gold prize winning catering establishments for sharing of their safety management experience and safe work practices. Let’s take a look at the videos.

In order to enhance the safety awareness of employees engaged in the catering industry, the Labour Department has produced three animations under the main theme of “Catering Safety Tips” including “Burn Prevention”, “Cut Prevention” and “Slip Prevention”. Let’s take a look at the animations!

In order to enhance enterprises’ knowledge of family-friendly employment policy and further their understanding in the implementation and advantages of relevant measures, the Labour Department invited three Signatories of the Good Employer Charter 2020 to share with us their successful cases in promoting family friendly employment culture and produced the “Family-friendly Good Employer Sharing Video of Good Employer Charter 2020”. Dr LAW Chi-kwong, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, also delivered a speech in the video. To watch the video, please visit the thematic website of the Good Employer Charter 2020.

The Labour Department today (November 1) launched the Racial Diversity Employment Programme to provide one-stop employment support services for ethnic minority job seekers in a case management approach.

The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (Amendment Ordinance) seeks to increase the maternity leave (ML) under the Employment Ordinance (EO) (Cap. 57) by four weeks. The Amendment Ordinance also covers two technical amendments which include updating the definition of "miscarriage" under EO; and accepting a certificate of attendance issued by medical professionals as documentary proof for entitling an eligible employee to sickness allowance for any day on which the employee has attended a medical examination in relation to her pregnancy.

Effective from 1 September 2020, the maximum amount of allowance for employing a person with disabilities under the Work Orientation and Placement Scheme will be increased to $60,000......

To enhance the awareness of employers and employees on reducing the health risks of standing at work, the Labour Department has produced a brand new TV announcement.

The Labour Department from now on releases information related to the Employment Ordinance and good human resource management through the GovHK Notifications mobile application (“the App”). Users of the App who are interested in receiving related messages can select “Workplace Consultation Related Information” under “Category” on the menu of the App. Corresponding notifications will be received by such users whenever the Labour Department delivers messages through the App.

Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 has come into effect. The Commissioner for Labour, pursuant to the ordinance, promulgated the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies to reflect the new legislative requirement, for compliance by Employment Agencies with a view to promoting professionalism and quality service in the industry.

The GN aims to provide practical guidance to proprietors, contractors and workers engaged in hand-dug tunnel construction work, and enhance the occupational safety and health (“OSH”) awareness of the relevant stakeholders. Workers participating in hand-dug tunnel construction work or underground utility laying works and other personnel involved in the work should also read the contents of the GN thoroughly to avoid the occurrence of accidents.

The Labour Department has launched the Employment Agencies Portal providing information related to regulation of employment agencies (EAs). Users can also check if an EA has a valid licence by the built-in search function.

To enhance public awareness of the working abilities of people with disabilities, the Selective Placement Division has produced a brand new series of videos ...