Police advise motorists that special traffic arrangements will be implemented in Sha Tin to facilitate the race meeting tomorrow (June 24). The arrangements will come into effect two hours before the start of the first race and will last until th… read more
The Labour Department (LD) today (June 23) 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). read more
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 pr… read more
Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations: Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals: Members of the public are advised to report any street flooding that comes to … read more
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, after attending a radio programme today (June 23):
Reporter: Is the Government under greater pressure to impose a complete ban because of the medical sector and the medical schools are against the plan? And also on the contamination of drugs, do you think that there is a need to review the existing mechanism for registering the drugs?
Secretary for Food and Health: On the issue of the regulation of e-cigarettes, I want to reiterate that the Government’s stance and the understanding of the harm of these e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn cigarettes are the same as that of the medical professionals. The medical and health professionals felt that we need to further strengthen the initial regulatory framework. We will continue to look at the latest evidence from international and local studies. We want to understand more about the prevalence of the use of these new tobacco products. Also, we want to review the entire situation of practices of other countries. We will continue to look at these factors to carve out our further actions. I want to reiterate that after reviewing all these evidence and factors, we do not rule out if necessary, the possibility that we would further strengthen our regulatory framework.
Reporter: Is there a need to review the registration of drugs?
Secretary for Food and Health: As far as the registration of drugs is concerned, we have a very robust system of the registration of any drugs coming into Hong Kong. The Department of Health’s Drug Office has very stringent measures of drug registration. First of all, they have to be registered elsewhere. The Office will also look into the reports provided by the company to see the efficacy and quality of the drugs. I think this incident may not be an issue of the registration of drugs. Of course, the Department of Health is now testing the drug. We will also receive a report from the drug company. We will look into these reports. We appeal to the general public that the drug is now in question, they better not to take the drug even if they have bought it before. Anyway, they will not be able to buy the drug in the market now.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more