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Following is an oral reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-hing on shift-work in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
Question:
It has been reported that the conclusions of the studies of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organisation point out that overnight work is probably carcinogenic to humans. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it will draw up health guidelines to provide guidance on overnight shift-work systems as well as the working hours and rest breaks for overnight work;
(b) it will, on the principle that the income of the staff concerned will not be affected, implement a three-shift system for all posts of the Government and its out-sourced services that involve shift-work, so as to shorten the time of overnight work for such posts; and
(c) it will specify cancers triggered by overnight work as occupational diseases under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance?
Reply:
Madam President,
Cancers are caused by many factors, e.g. family history, smoking and diet, as well as the interplay among these factors. Nevertheless, in some cases such as skin cancer or cancer of the urinary tract caused by exposure to certain chemicals at work and cancer of nasal cavity caused by working in the manufacture or repair of wooden goods, there is definite medical evidence showing a relationship between such cancers and working in the specific occupations. Accordingly, these cancers have been prescribed as occupational diseases.
The medical field is still divided on whether night work would cause cancers. The latest studies by the International Agency for Research on Cancer indicate that there is still limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans in respect of shift-work involving circadian disruption. On this basis, it has classified such work as probably carcinogenic to humans only, rather than being carcinogenic to humans as in the case of exposure to ionising radiation and asbestos.
On shift-work arrangements, the international recommendations are that depending on the nature of work (e.g. whether dangerous, monotonous, demanding and safety critical), operational needs and whether a night shift is involved, a shift should as far as possible be arranged for no longer than 8 to 12 hours to minimise the health effects of shift-work on employees. The number of shifts required for 24-hour work depends on operational needs.
My reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:
(a) The Labour Department (LD) plans to issue a practical guide to employers and employees on shift-work, making reference to internationally accepted occupational health protection measures. It will also study the monograph to be published officially by the World Health Organisation later this year to improve on the guide.
The guide will introduce health and social problems that may arise from shift-work, as well as the preventive measures which could be taken by employers and employees to minimise the health effects of night work on employees. These include, for instance, measures to which employers should pay attention in arranging work; and the advice that employees should sleep in a dark and quiet environment as soon as possible after night shift- work to create a favourable environment for sleeping; and that employees should avoid drinking coffee, tea or alcoholic beverages before sleep.
(b) As for shift arrangements in Government services, Heads of Departments may arrange their relevant staff to perform shift duties to meet service needs. Individual departments require flexibility to determine the shift pattern that best suits their actual and unique operational needs. The Government has no plan to require departments to adopt a standard shift system for all posts that involve shift-work. At present, Heads of Departments take account of their operational needs, the convenience of the general public and the conditioned hours of the staff concerned, etc. in determining the staff's actual hours of attendance and their shift pattern so as to ensure the efficiency and quality of services.
With respect to Government's out-sourced services, such services at present mainly involve the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Housing Department and Government Property Agency. Details of the out-sourced service requirements are determined by the procuring departments having regard to their operational needs. According to the information provided by these departments, the majority of the Government's out-sourced services do not require workers to work on 12-hour overnight shift, and the remaining small number of contracts that require workers to do so will be changed into an 8-hour shift system upon renewal.
Moreover, LD will issue the practical guide being drafted to all government departments after its publication in order to remind them to pay attention to occupational health protection measures when arranging shift-work.
(c) By drawing on the International Labour Organization's criteria, LD has all along determined whether a disease should be prescribed as a new occupational disease by considering mainly the following criteria:
(i) the disease poses a significant and recognized risk to workers engaged in a certain occupation in Hong Kong; and
(ii) the relationship between the disease and the occupation can be reasonably presumed or established in individual cases.
As cancers allegedly caused by night work do not satisfy the above-mentioned criteria, the Government has no plan to prescribe them as occupational diseases under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:14
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