The "Our Music Talents" Series presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will be held from September to January next year. Local emerging artists will showcase their music talent and offer audiences delightful performances. 
 
     The programmes are as follows:
 
Huqin Concert by Chan Kai-him
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September 30 (Sunday), 8pm
Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall
Tickets: $120 and $160
 
     Hong Kong-born huqin player Chan Kai-him graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Music degree in erhu and gaohu under Wong On-yuen and Yu Qiwei and a Master of Music degree in gaohu under Yu Qiwei with the highest honours. He has also benefited from the coaching of many virtuosi such as Xiao Baiyong, Liu Yang, Jiang Cairu and Xue Ke. Chan is currently the acting co-concertmaster of the Windpipe Chinese Music Ensemble.
 
Flute Recital by Angus Lee
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October 14 (Sunday), 8pm
Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall
Tickets: $120 and $160
 
     Born in Hong Kong, Angus Lee is a versatile performer and composer. Having graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Royal Academy of Music in the United Kingdom with the highest honours, Lee is currently a member of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and a regular freelance musician with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. In 2012, Lee was selected as one of the Young Music Makers by Radio Television Hong Kong. In 2016, Lee was invited to perform as a soloist at Lucerne Festival Academy founder Pierre Boulez’s memorial concert in Switzerland. Lee is a self-taught composer, and his works have been commissioned and performed by various international music groups.
 
Vocal Recital by Jasper Sung
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October 27 (Saturday), 8pm
Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall
Tickets: $120 and $160
 
     In 2015, Jasper Sung graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Master of Music degree in singing under Nancy Yuen. In 2016, he studied for the Postgraduate University Course (Voice) at the University Mozarteum Salzburg under Mario Diaz with a Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship. He has also studied with Siegfried Jerusalem and Helen Donath at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg with a Foundation for the Arts and Music in Asia Scholarship. In 2015, Sung was selected as one of the Young Music Makers by Radio Television Hong Kong.
 
Vocal Recital by Alison Lau
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January 5 (Saturday), 8pm
Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall
Tickets: $120 and $160
 
     Alison Lau has won an Outstanding Performance Award at the Metropolitan International Vocal Competition in New York, first prize at the 10th Yokohama International Music Competition (Vocal Category) in Japan, and a Gerhart Hauptmann-Theater Special Prize at the 22nd Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici Spazio Musica in Orvieto, Italy. In 2017, Lau was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the Secretary for Home Affairs in recognition of her musical achievements.
 
     Tickets are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/groups_530.html.
 
     The LCSD is presenting the "Our Music Talents" Series to nurture and support local emerging artists and groups and provide them with performing opportunities, enabling them to develop and showcase their achievements.
 
 

     The Government announced today (August 17) that the Financial Secretary, in exercise of his authority under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, had re-appointed the Chairman and seven incumbent members of the Mandatory Provident Fund Industry Schemes Committee (ISC), and appointed three new members. The membership of the ISC is as follows:
 
Chairman
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Dr Roy Chung Chi-ping
 
Members
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Mr Chan Pat-kan
Mr Cheung Tat-fai (new appointee)
Mr Chin Chi-keung
Mr Rayman Chui Man-wai (new appointee)
Mr Kwok Wang-hing
Mr Lee Yuen-hong
Mr Adrian Li Man-kiu
Mr Johnson Wong Ho-shun
Mr Wong Ping
Mr Yu Chak-ming (new appointee)
 
     Their term of office is two years, from August 25, 2018, to August 24, 2020, both dates inclusive.
 
     The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr James Lau, said, "Under the leadership of Dr Chung, I believe the ISC will continue to provide valuable advice to ensure the effectiveness of MPF Industry Schemes and to improve their administration and operation in the interest of scheme members."
 
     Mr James Lau also thanked outgoing members Mr Simon Wong Kit-lung, Mr Lawrence Ng San-wa and Mr Tang Ka-hin for their valuable contributions to the ISC during their tenure.

     Talented young Hong Kong choreographers Gabbie Chan and Jennifer Mok will stage their new dance works "Lördagsgodis" and "Moha" under the "New Force in Motion" Series in September.
 
     The "New Force in Motion" Series presents new dance works by emerging choreographers. It aims to offer a professional platform for young choreographers to showcase choreography, encourage development, and stimulate creativity through artistic mentoring and collaborative research.
 
     "Lördagsgodis", choreographed by Gabbie Chan, will be performed by dancers Chan Lok-hin and Cyrus Hui, while "Moha", choreographed by Jennifer Mok, will feature performances by dancers Pansy Lo, Kaspy Ma and K T Yau.
 
     Gabbie Chan graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Chinese dance. Chan is currently the Artist in Residence of Passoverdance. From 2012 to 2014, Chan performed with DanceArt Hong Kong in productions including "In Search of Hui Sin", "M-cident" and "Lament of the Exile". In 2015, she joined Passoverdance and took up choreography. Chan's recent choreographic works have included the environmental dance "Recycle Green" presented in the i-Dance Festival (HK) in 2015 and "The 16th Day", which premiered in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series of the 44th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2016. Other works include "From Scratch", "Whisper of Bubble", "Fabric", "He, She, It", "Past" and "Chase".
 
     Jennifer Mok graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, having majored in ballet, and studied modern dance the following year. Mok is currently an independent artist. She was a dancer in City Contemporary Dance Company from 2007 to 2014. In 2015, Mok performed in her first work as choreographer, "A Major Clown in G Flat", in "Femininity" by E-sides Dance Company, and the production earned Mok nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer in the 18th Hong Kong Dance Awards in 2016. In the following year, her work "You are Beautiful" premiered in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series of the 45th Hong Kong Arts Festival. In 2018, Mok was invited to the Hong Kong Dance Exchange and the 2018 Dance Round Table in Taiwan.
 
     Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, "New Force in Motion Series: 'Lördagsgodis' by Gabbie Chan and 'Moha' by Jennifer Mok" will be staged at 8pm on September 28 and 29 (Friday and Saturday) and at 3pm on September 29 and 30 (Saturday and Sunday) at the Black Box Theatre of the Kwai Tsing Theatre. Tickets priced at $160 (free seating) are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7323 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/dance/programs_617.html.

     The Labour Department (LD) today (August 17) reminded employers to make prior work arrangements for staff in times of rainstorms as soon as possible.
 
     "To avoid disputes and confusion, employers should make prior work arrangements for staff and contingency measures in times of rainstorms," an LD spokesman said.
 
     "In working out and enforcing the arrangements, employers should give prime consideration to employees' safety both in the workplace and during their journeys to and from work, and adopt a flexible approach. Whenever possible, they should consult their staff."
 
     The work arrangements should cover the following matters:
 
* Whether employees are required to report for duty when different rainstorm warnings are issued;
* After a rainstorm warning is cancelled, the time for staff who have not reported for duty to resume work and the arrangements;
* How wages and allowances (if any) will be calculated for staff who are required to report for duty and those who are late for work or absent from work during rainstorms; and
* For employees who are required to travel to and from workplaces during rainstorms, whether transport facilities will be provided to them and, if so, the arrangements.
 
     "Employers should make realistic assessments of the requirements for essential staff and require only absolutely essential staff to report for duty in adverse weather conditions. If an Amber, Red or Black Rainstorm Warning is issued during working hours, employees working indoors should remain on duty as usual and stay where they are unless it is dangerous to do so. Supervisors of employees working outdoors in exposed areas should suspend outdoor duties as soon as practicable. They should arrange for their employees to take shelter temporarily and resume duty when weather conditions permit. When the Black Rainstorm Warning is issued, those employees should not resume duty until the warning is lowered and weather conditions permit. If the Black Rainstorm Warning remains in force at the end of working hours, for safety reasons, employers should provide employees with an area in the workplace as temporary shelter for them to stay if they want to.
 
     "If possible, employers should provide transport services for employees who are still required to travel to and from workplaces when the Black Rainstorm Warning is in force, or give them a special travelling allowance as encouragement.
 
     "For staff who have practical difficulties in resuming work promptly upon cancellation of a rainstorm warning, employers should give due consideration to the circumstances of individual employees and handle each case flexibly.
 
     "As rainstorms are natural occurrences that cannot be avoided, employers should not deduct wages of employees who are absent from or late for work because of inclement weather. Neither should employers dismiss an employee summarily based on these grounds," he said.
 
     The spokesman also reminded employers to observe the statutory liabilities and requirements under the Employment Ordinance, the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, the Employees' Compensation Ordinance and the Minimum Wage Ordinance.
 
     Employers should not deduct the annual leave, statutory holidays or rest days employees are entitled to under the Employment Ordinance so as to compensate for the loss of working hours resulting from employees' failure to report for duty upon the announcement of a Black Rainstorm Warning. An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with relevant provisions under the Employment Ordinance is liable to prosecution.
 
     Employers should also note that they have an obligation to maintain a safe workplace for their employees under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance.
 
     "If employees are required to work in times of rainstorms, employers should ensure that the risks at work are properly controlled and reduced to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable," the spokesman said.
 
     Under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, employers are liable to pay compensation for deaths or injuries incurred when employees are travelling by a direct route from their residences to workplaces, or from workplaces back to residences after work, four hours before or after working hours on a day when Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above or a Red or Black Rainstorm Warning is in force.
 
     To provide practical guidelines and samples of work arrangements for the reference of employers and employees, the LD has issued the booklet "Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms". The code can be obtained from the branch offices of the Labour Relations Division or downloaded from the department's webpage (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/Rainstorm.pdf).

     As the rainstorm warning has been issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, the Labour Department (LD) reminds employers and contractors that they should adopt necessary work arrangements and take suitable safety measures to protect the safety of their employees when they are carrying out electrical work or handling electrical plant.

     A spokesman for the LD said today (August 17) that employers and contractors should avoid assigning employees to carry out electrical work (like electric arc welding work) or handle electrical plant at places affected by rainstorms, and should refer to the "Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms" and the "Guide on Safety at Work in times of Inclement Weather" issued by the LD.

     Even if electrical work is carried out or electrical plant is handled at places not affected by the rainstorm, suitable safety measures must still be adopted to prevent electric shock as the air would be more humid. Such measures include:

(i) Ensure that all live parts of an electrical installation are isolated from the power supply source and rendered dead, and the isolation from the power supply source must be maintained as long as electrical work is being carried out;

(ii) Before carrying out any electrical work or handling any electrical plant, cut off and lock out the power supply source, then test the circuit concerned to confirm it is dead and display suitable warning notices, and issue a work permit thereafter;

(iii) Ensure that protective devices (such as suitable and adequate fuses and circuit breakers) for the electrical installations or electrical plant have been installed and maintained in good working order, and portable electric tools must be double-insulated or properly earthed;

(iv) Provide suitable personal protective equipment such as insulating gloves and insulating mats for employees; and

(v) If live electrical work is unavoidable, a comprehensive risk assessment should be conducted by a competent person and the appropriate safety precautions should be taken to remove or properly control the electrical hazards involved before such work can proceed.

     In addition, employees should co-operate with the employer or contractor to follow the safety instructions and use the safety equipment provided.

     The LD has published guidebooks and leaflets on electrical work safety. These safety publications are available free from divisional offices of the department or can be downloaded from its website (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/content2_8.htm).

     Should there be any questions about occupational safety and health matters, please contact the Occupational Safety Officer of the LD at 2559 2297.