The Labour Department (LD) today (June 8) 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).

     The Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) today (June 8) invited tenders for the contract for Cycle Track between Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun – Advance Works.
 
     The works mainly comprise:

* a new cycle track with footpath of about 2.3 kilometres in length from Tsing Tsuen Bridge to Bayview Garden in Tsuen Wan;
* an entry/exit hub (near Tsuen Wan West MTR Station) and two resting stations (near Tsing Tsuen Bridge and Bayview Garden) with supporting facilities including cycle parking spaces, benches and a toilet at the hub;
* modification of an existing footbridge to make way for the new cycle track;
* associated landscaping and ancillary works; and
* implementation of environmental mitigation measures for the works mentioned above.
 
     The works are scheduled to commence in September this year and will take about 24 months to complete.
 
     The CEDD has commissioned Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd to design and supervise the works. Interested contractors may obtain the forms of tender and further particulars from the company on Level 5, Festival Walk, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, or call the company at 2268 3548 during office hours.

     The invitation to tender was gazetted today. The closing time for the tender is noon on July 20.
 
     Details of the tender notice are available at the CEDD's website
www.cedd.gov.hk/eng/tender/contract/tender/index.html#TW/2017/01).

          Police today (June 8) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Kwai Chung.
      
          Lai Wai-tak, aged 43, went missing after he left his residence in Kwai Shing West Estate on April 21. His family made a report to Police on June 6.
      
          He is about 1.78 metres tall, 60 kilograms in weight and of thin build. He has a pointed face with yellow complexion and short black hair.
      
          Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Person Unit of New Territories North on 3661 3113 or 6273 5787, or email to rmpu-ntn-1@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.
     

  

     Attention TV and radio duty announcers:

     Please broadcast the following special announcement by the Education Bureau concerning schools, and repeat it at suitable intervals:

     As the Red Rainstorm Warning Signal is now in force, students of PM schools do not have to attend school this afternoon. Schools should keep their premises open and implement contingency measures to look after arriving students. Schools which are in session should continue until the end of school hours. They should ensure that conditions are safe before allowing students to return home.

     The Government published in the Gazette today (June 8) the Food Adulteration (Metallic Contamination) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 to stipulate the updated standards for metallic contamination in food.
      
     A Government spokesman said, "The amendments are to enhance the protection of public health, facilitate effective regulation and align Hong Kong's standards with the international ones.
      
     "The standards as set out in the Amendment Regulation were made after making reference to factors including the latest standards on metallic contamination of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, relevant standards of other economies, local food consumption patterns and dietary practices and the results of risk assessment."
      
     The Amendment Regulation will increase the total number of metallic contaminants from the existing seven to 14. The number of maximum levels (MLs) for metallic contaminants in respect of different foods and food groups will be increased from the existing 19 to 144. The Amendment Regulation also provides definitions for individual foods and food groups, replaces or deletes obsolete clauses, and provides the principles for the application of MLs on food in a dried, dehydrated or concentrated form and on compounded food.  There are transitional provisions in the Amendment Regulation to provide different grace periods for different kinds of food.
      
     "Given that the proposed MLs are generally in line with Codex's standards and the principles for establishing MLs for contaminants in food, the amendments are not likely to affect the supply of food in Hong Kong in general. Furthermore, results from the routine food surveillance programme and additional baseline studies conducted by the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene indicate that the levels of metallic contamination in food available in the local market can generally comply with the proposed MLs," the spokesman said.
      
     The Amendment Regulation will be tabled before the Legislative Council on June 13, 2018, for negative vetting.