The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (June 3) that in view of a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs about an outbreak of highly patho… read more
The Labour Department (LD) today (June 3) released the newly revised “Code of Practice (CoP) in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms”. The CoP aims at alerting employers to consult employees as soon as possible on the work and resumption of work arrangements in times of adverse weather conditions before typhoon season. The revised CoP also provides reference guidelines to employers and employees on the work and resumption of work arrangements in the event of the Government issuing the new post-super typhoon “extreme conditions” announcement.
Following the experience with Super Typhoon Mangkhut last year, the Government conducted an inter-departmental review of the handling mechanism to improve the city’s preparedness, emergency response and recovery efforts. One of the new measures is, if the situation warrants, the Government may issue an “extreme conditions” announcement before Typhoon Warning Signal No. 8 (T8) is replaced with No. 3 (T3). “Extreme conditions” may include serious disruption of public transport services, extensive flooding, major landslides or large-scale power outage occurring after a super typhoon.
Upon the announcement of “extreme conditions” by the Government, apart from essential staff who have an agreement with their employers to be on duty when “extreme conditions” is in force, employees are advised to stay at the place they are currently in for two hours after cancellation of T8, instead of heading for work immediately. The Government will review the situation, and further advise the public by the end of the two-hour period whether the “extreme conditions” period will be extended or cancelled. During the period, employers and employees should stay alert to further government announcements. Once the “extreme conditions” period is over, employees should follow the work arrangements they have previously agreed with the employers and resume work as appropriate. If employees are unable to report for duty due to practical difficulties, they should notify their supervisors as soon as possible. Employers are also advised to be sympathetic and make flexible arrangements for their employees under such circumstances.
“To maintain smooth operations and good labour-management relations, it is of utmost importance for employers to draw up in advance, in consultation with their employees, realistic and practical work arrangements in times of and after typhoon and rainstorm warnings, post-super typhoon ‘extreme conditions’ and other adverse weather conditions,” an LD spokesman stressed.
“When implementing the work arrangements, employers should adopt a sympathetic and flexible approach, according top priority to employees’ safety at all times. Due consideration should also be given to the individual circumstances of employees. In drawing up the work arrangements for adverse weather conditions, employers should conduct realistic assessment on the need for essential staff and keep the staff number to a minimum as far as possible. Employees identified as essential staff should be notified in advance.
“Employers should discuss with essential staff in advance the arrangements for their transportation, meals and rest places, as well as other contingency safety measures under adverse weather conditions. They should also explain clearly to employees the calculation methods of working hours, wages, duty and travel allowances under different scenarios. Employees’ wages, allowances and good attendance bonuses should not be affected if they are not required to report for duty in accordance with the work arrangements,” the LD spokesman added.
It is incumbent upon employers to observe the statutory obligations and requirements under the Employment Ordinance, the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and the Minimum Wage Ordinance.
Prime consideration should be given to the safety of essential staff at all times, with adequate safety facilities, personal protective equipment and suitable rest breaks provided for them during working hours. Employers should grant extra duty allowance to essential staff required to work in adverse weather or when an “extreme conditions” announcement is in force.
On work resumption arrangements, as employees’ journeys to workplaces may be hindered in the aftermath of adverse weather, employers should exercise flexibility and give prime consideration to employees’ safety at all times. If workplaces are damaged by adverse weather posing potential safety risks, employers should immediately carry out safety inspections and adopt suitable safety measures before arranging for employees to resume work.
To promote the community’s understanding of the revised CoP and “extreme conditions” after super typhoons, the LD will step up publicity efforts for employer associations, workers’ unions and human resources practitioners, including conducting briefings for them. TV and radio Announcements in the Public Interest on the subject will also be launched in the coming months. The revised CoP booklet can be downloaded from the LD’s website (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/Rainstorm.pdf). read more
Attention TV/radio announcers: Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals: Here is an item of interest to swimmers. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (June 5) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on promoting healthcare reform.
The motion, to be moved by Mr Chan Han-pan, states: “That the tilting of the public healthcare system towards the provision of care for patients with serious illnesses, coupled with the serious lack of comprehensive preventive healthcare services in society, has rendered it difficult for people to receive treatment at an early stage of illness; in recent years, the Hospital Authority (‘HA’) has phased out the ‘mentorship approach’ to medical practice and adopted clinical and administrative guidelines together with a mechanical management approach in managing frontline doctors, and this has imposed prolonged pressure on frontline doctors, made it difficult for them to develop team spirit, and led to a massive wastage of healthcare personnel; the aforementioned shortcomings have also caused difficulties in improving the quality of public healthcare services, and among others, problems such as excessively long waiting time for healthcare services and persistent healthcare manpower shortage have even intensified; in this connection, this Council urges the SAR Government to expeditiously promote healthcare reform to eradicate the deep-rooted deficiencies in the healthcare system; the relevant proposals include:
(1) allocating additional resources to develop comprehensive preventive healthcare services, so as to build up an integrated first line of defence in healthcare and compensate for the inadequacies in the existing healthcare system;
(2) by drawing reference from the mode of public-private healthcare partnership, incorporating private healthcare services into the development planning for a first line of defence in healthcare, so as to reduce the pressure on the public healthcare system by drawing on the strength of private healthcare;
(3) exploring the feasibility of introducing a new ‘mentorship approach’ to medical practice in HA, so as to rebuild team spirit among frontline doctors and sustain the inheritance of medical experience;
(4) reforming HA’s mechanical management approach and including the element of humanized management, so as to boost the morale of frontline healthcare personnel;
(5) adopting the principles of ‘focusing on patients’ needs’ and ‘saving patients’ time’ in reforming HA’s service mode and subsidy computation mode, so as to enable patients to receive one-stop healthcare services within a short time for a single illness or multiple illnesses without having to make repeated trips to hospitals as in the past and in turn reduce their ordeals; and
(6) developing comprehensive integrated Chinese-Western medicine services in the public healthcare system, so as to promote the diversification of public healthcare services by drawing on the strength of Chinese medicine.”
Ms Alice Mak, Professor Joseph Lee, Dr Pierre Chan, Dr Kwok Ka-ki, Dr Helena Wong, Mr Chu Hoi-dick and Mr Shiu Ka-chun will move separate amendments to Mr Chan Han-pan’s motion.
Mr Tony Tse will also move a motion on improving the employment terms of civil servants, enhancing the efficiency of policy implementation and promoting creativity and innovation. The motion states: “That this Council urges the Government to adopt effective measures to improve the employment terms, manpower, working environment and continuing education and training of civil servants; raise the Government’s efficiency of decision-making, decision execution and vetting and approval process, and strengthen inter-bureau and inter-departmental co-operation and coordination; and enhance middle and senior civil servants’ creative mindset and capacity to manage changes, and promote the application and research and development of innovative technology in various government departments.”
Mr Ho Kai-ming, Mr Charles Mok, Mr Jeremy Tam and Mr Holden Chow will move separate amendments to Mr Tony Tse’s motion.
Meanwhile, Dr Priscilla Leung will move a motion under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Arbitration (Appointment of Arbitrators and Mediators and Decision on Number of Arbitrators) (Amendment) Rules 2019 laid on the table of the Council on May 22, 2019 to the meeting of July 10, 2019.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found on the LegCo Website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours. Members of the public can also watch or listen to the meeting via the “Webcast” system on the LegCo Website. read more
Police today (June 3) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Sha Tin. Tam Chi-hung, aged 68, went missing after… read more