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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah on work arrangements in times of typhoons and rainstorms in the Legislative Council today (October 29):
Question :
The Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms compiled by the Labour Department advises employers to discuss with employees to set out prior work arrangements and contingency measures when typhoon and rainstorm warnings are in force. Although in recent years the Hong Kong Observatory ("HKO") normally issues an early alert ("Pre-No. 8 Special Announcement") once the Typhoon Warning Signal No. 8 is expected within two hours to allow employees to be released in stages, quite a number of employers still release their employees only after the Typhoon Warning Signal No. 8 has been issued. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the measures in place to improve the situation of traffic congestion and confusion caused by large numbers of employees being released at the same time upon the issuance of the Typhoon Warning Signal No. 8; and
(b) whether the authorities will reconsider not to rely on negotiations undertaken by employers and employees themselves and, instead, legislating for the work arrangements during typhoons, including immediate release of employees in stages by all employers, except those in the exempted trades and industries, upon the issuance of Pre-No. 8 Special Announcement by HKO; if they will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply :
President,
(a) When tropical cyclone signal No. 8 is hoisted, safe and orderly departure of employees from the workplace is of paramount importance. To facilitate the implementation of the related arrangements, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO):
(i) issues alerts to the public about two hours in advance when No. 8 signal is anticipated. The alerts include reminders for employees and others to go home as soon as possible; and
(ii) through a well-established mechanism, gives early warnings to public transport operators through the Transport Department (TD).
The HKO reviews the efficacy of the above arrangements from time to time. The efforts include:
(i) after typhoon signals are issued, examining whether there is room for further improving the public announcement arrangements. For example, publicity on work release arrangements has been enhanced since August 2007 in the light of actual experience;
(ii) assisting the Labour Department (LD) in updating the ˇ§Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstormsˇ¨; and
(iii) meeting with the TD regularly to review the adequacy of the inter-departmental communication arrangements.
The LD has published a ˇ§Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstormsˇ¨ to remind employers and employees to draw up prior work arrangements and contingency measures during tropical cyclone signals to avoid unnecessary dispute and confusion. The Code provides advice and guidelines on report for duty, release from work, resumption of work and wage calculation in times of tropical cyclones. The Code is regularly reviewed in the light of experience to ensure that clear and practical guidelines are available to employers and employees. Before the typhoon season this year, the LD had specially updated the Code to remind employers that upon the issue of the Pre-No. 8 Special Announcement, they should release non-essential employees in stages as soon as practicable according to the needs of individual employees and the work requirements so as to ensure safety and ease traffic congestion. The Code has been available free of charge at all major offices of LD and Public Enquiry Service Centres of the Home Affairs Department. Copies have been sent to employer associations, trade unions and resources centres for small and medium-sized enterprises. It is also uploaded to the Departmentˇ¦s homepage on the Internet for public access.
LD has also stepped up publicity to promote the importance of making prior work arrangements in times of typhoon and rainstorm warnings. These activities include regular broadcast of television and radio announcements of public interest and issue of press release etc.
(b) The nature and requirements of different jobs in different companies of various trades and industries are diverse. Some essential services like public transport, public utilities, medical services, hotels and security etc, need to maintain operation under inclement weather conditions. As to other services, immediate suspension of operation when signal no. 8 is hoisted may create inconvenience for citizens and problems for certain trades relying on such services for their operations. For the above reasons, it would not be practicable to introduce legislation governing work arrangements for employers and employees during tropical cyclones.
Ends/Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:27
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