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Safe Community Affiliate Support Centre
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Name of the Centre: The
Occupational Safety and Health Council, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
Number of Inhabitants (in Hong Kong): 7 million (at 2000)
Programme started year: 1989
Affiliate Safe Community Support Centre: Designation year: March 2000
Info address on www for the Programme: www.oshc.org.hk
Identity: The
Occupational Safety & Health Council (OSHC) was set up by the Hong Kong Government in
1988 following the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance. It is a
statutory body responsible for promoting occupational safety and health standards in the
territory.
OSHC works closely with
various sectors in the community. It also cooperates with and advises the government on
matters of occupational health and safety, and provides for a wide range of services, such
as promotion, consultancy, training and education, information and research
Mission: To
ensure the proper control of health and safety risks at work so as to develop and sustain
a safety culture that is in line with the successful development of the city. Its task,
however, is more than just occupational. Since a safety culture should be nurtured in the
younger generation to enable them to become safety-minded adults, OSHC also strives to
educate the non-working population to think and act safe.
It is the Council's
ultimate hope that through research and promotion of injury prevention and the development
of a safety culture, we are able to make Hong Kong a safe and healthy city, and assist
other cities in the region to become safe communities.
The OSHC engages in
the following safety promotion activities:
The formation and
support of cross-sectional group responsible for injury prevention: this includes the
setting up of Green Cross Group and 11 Industry-based safety and health committees (IBSH).
The former acts as an information and experience exchange forum for different
organizations about the implementation of safety and health programs. The latter, which
cover the major industries in Hong Kong which are more susceptible to occupational
injuries, are tasked with organizing promotions and activities on safety and health, and
to produce and amend safety and health guidelines for workers in their respective
industries.
Safety and Health
Weeks: the territory-wide program was only a week long when first introduced in 1990.
Today, it has turned into a campaign that lasts throughout the year. It is dotted with
various activities, such as exhibitions, slogan competitions, concerts, carnivals,
seminars and quiz games.
Tuen Mun Safe
Community: Tuen Mun has been chosen to be the first safe community in Hong Kong as
quite a few local institutions have shown interest and been quite active in safety and
health work. A steering committee with members from various sectors of the town has been
formed, and there will be a large variety of safety enhancement program after its
inauguration in March.
OSH Gallery:
Funded by the Hong Kong Government, OSHC set up this Gallery in 1998 at the Hong Kong
Science Museum. It is the first of its kind in the region and aims to cultivate a safety
culture in the general public, in particular, among young people. The gallery offers
state-of-the-art and well-designed interactive multimedia exhibits and presentations to
increase public knowledge about safety and health in the workplaces such as construction
sites, manufacturing plants and offices.
OSH Roadshow:
these roadshows, which are organized in big shopping centers around the territory, cover a
wide range of safety and health topics and at work and is an important promotional tool
for the Council.
Safety Wizard:
The robot-like mobile and interactive OSH information station has been created to tour
with the road show, viewers can access all kinds of OSH information simply by touching its
screen.
"Safety at
Work" promotional campaign for students. School Safety Day, seminars, carnivals
and site visits are organized for students, teachers and their families focus on specific
themes such as chemical safety and summer job safety. The Council also co-operate with
"The Hong Kong Award For Young People" in organizing OSH training for
accreditation of the Gold, Silver & Bronze Award
Training Courses: More
than 400 classes of 90 training programs has been organized each year, which address
various working populations and situations. In 1999 it trained nearly 10,000 people. The
Council also provides for special in-house training and has produced a self-learning CD
ROM for people to learn in a flexible manner.
Subsidising
programmes:
Occupational Safety
and Health Employees Participation Scheme (OSHEPS)- a scheme that subsidizes trade
unions and employees to organize occupational safety and health activities.
OSH Funding Scheme
for SMEs- a new funding scheme to help small and medium sized enterprises to introduce
safety measures in workplaces.
Research:
An international
study of stress levels for managers
Research on
occupational noise exposure and hearing impairment among transportation employees
The study of
nosocomial (hospital-acquired) colonization among hospital employees
A survey on safety
awareness of construction workers
A study of hard hats
and their relation to head-neck injuries
A study of safety
culture in hotel industry of Hong Kong
The effect of indoor
pollution on the development of rhinitis among office workers
Consultancy
services: OSHC has a team of consultants from a wide range of professional
backgrounds. Upon request from organizations, they will conduct site visits, discuss
problems with management, run risk and occupational hygiene assessments, recommend
improvement measures, provide tailor- made training courses, and conduct safety audits.
At the following
environments:
Home : Yes, through
collaboration with other organizations in the community
Traffic : Yes,
through collaboration with other organizations in the community
Occupational: Yes
School : Yes
Sports : No
Leisure : Yes,
through collaboration with other organizations in the community
Others : TV and
radio shows.
Accidents
(non-intentional injuries) in the following injury areas:
All
occupational-related injuries
Violence prevention
(intentional injuries): No
Suicide prevention
(self-inflicted injuries): No
Programmes aiming at
"High Risk groups": Yes
OSHC identified workers
in the construction and catering industries as the two major high-risk groups. The
programmes involves:
Safety icon developed
as a universal symbol for safety
Huge construction
safety banners prominently displayed at all construction sites
Safety shoes
promotional campaign consists of exhibition and programmes to promote a wider use of
safety shoes
Monitoring air
quality in industries with high dust levels
Construction safety
award scheme
Safety award scheme
on good housekeeping for the catering industry
Public service
announcement – advertisement on TV and radio
Surveillance of
injuries: with the Hospital Authority (which administers 44 public hospitals in Hong
Kong)
OSHC has developed a
safety management system (SMS) for all hospitals under the Hospital Authority, involving
the documentation of the types, frequency and causes of patients' illnesses and
occupational injuries of hospital staff. This data will be studied and analyzed with the
objective to establish a general pattern for formulation of improvement strategies. The
data will also be used as baseline information for future comparative studies, and can
also be used to support medical, legal and compensatory follow-up work. This data is
necessary for the development of safe communities.
Other surveillance
of injuries include:
A study of
work-related hand injuries in 1998 conducted in conjunction with Queen Mary Hospital
and Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital.
A retrospective
analysis of the occupational eye injuries in Hong Kong between 1996-97. The study
analyzed all occupational eye injuries treated in the Hospital Authority's14 accident and
emergency units.
Establish a
comprehensive recording and investigation system on injury records for Tuen Mun Hospital -
As the main hospital in our safe community model, Tuen Mun Hospital will work with
OSHC to form an injury registration system in its Accident and Emergency Unit. The Council
will analyze the data collected and make recommendations for safety and health strategies
in the hospital and the district as a whole.
Baseline Survey for
Structured OSH Development in Hong Kong
In collaboration with
other academic institutions, OSHC is planning to do a comprehensive survey across the
territory, which involves the collection of information on injuries, safety culture and
working environments. The result of this survey can form the baseline criteria against
which similar surveys in the future can be measured.
Publications and
information dissemination:
Research findings- research
findings will be published in our website and shared with the public through press
conferences and in the Green Cross bi-monthly journal.
OSH Resource Centre
– the biggest such resource Centre in Hong Kong with a collection of 3,500 books
and 60 magazines. There are also online computers, CD-ROM systems from the UK, US, Canada,
and Australia, two microfiche systems and hundreds of videotapes.
OSH Bookshelf - This
is a CD-ROM produced by OSHC which contains more than 400 different Council publications
for easy public reference. The encyclopaedia will be updated from time to time.
Green Cross -A
bi-monthly journal reporting on safety and health issues, targeting both management and
all workers in general. This is a leading OSH magazine in Hong Kong and major cities in
China.
Link - A
quarterly newsletter reporting on the successful experiences in improving safety &
health situations at workplaces. Although this is the regular newsletter published for
member-organizations of the Green Cross Group ( a voluntary group gathered for the
purpose of continuous benchmarking in OSH), requests for circulation to other
organizations are rising.
Other publications
In 1999, promotional
materials such as pamphlets, guidebooks, posters and teaching kits, bulletins, exhibition
boards and videotapes covering around 70 different OSH topics were produced.
The Council also
designed a new screen saver which shows about 23 types of office stretching exercises
covering the eyes, neck, limbs and lower back.
The Council's Web
site (http://www.oshc.org.hk) is written in English, traditional and simplified Chinese,
making it accessible to a large majority of the world's population.
The Council
collaborates with the State Economic Trade Commission's Bureau of Work Safety, People's
Republic of China, in translating the International Labour Organization’s
Encyclopaedia into Chinese, so that the important document can be viewed by the people in
mainland China.
International
commitments:
Study visits: at
periodic interval to neighboring regions.
Participation in
international safety organisations:
Associate Member of
the International Social Security Association (ISSA) since 1996.
The Council works
closely with the International Labour Organization on the prevention and control of
industrial accidents and is one of the Consultative Centres in the Asia-Pacific Region.
OSHC is allied with
the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA) of Ontario, Canada since 1997
Member of the
Asia-Pacific Occupational Safety and Health Organizations (APOSHO)
The Council has been
appointed by the Japan International Centre on Occupational Safety & Health (JICOSH)
as its agent for OSH data collection in Hong Kong.
Conferences hosted:
The 13th APOSHO
annual conference and exhibition in 1997 in Hong Kong.
The Annual Seminar on
Occupational Safety and Health for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau
The Occupational
Safety and Health for Good Business Conference in 1998. Five experts from the UK, Canada
and Hong Kong were invited to share their experiences.
The Pan-pacific
Symposium on Ergonomics in March 1998.
The Safe Communities
Workshop in March 1999.
Regular
seminars/conferences on specific OSH topics were organized.
The Safety &
Health Expo from 21-23 March 2000 with the theme on "Managing Safety in the New
Century".
Staff: 44 full
time consultants, professional and administrative staff
For further information, contact:
Mr W S Tang (Executive Director)
Occupational Safety and Health Council
19/F, China United Centre, 28 Marble Road, North Point, Hong Kong SAR
China
Phone : (852) 2739 9377, Fax: (852)
2739 9779
E-mail : oshc@oshc.org.hk
Copyright © 1999-2000 Dept. of Public Health Sciences.
Updated by  Moa
Sundström, 2002-10-29 14:38.
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