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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Wai-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (April 1):
Question:
Regarding work-related injuries and occupational diseases of massage and acupressure practitioners, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the number of cases of massage and acupressure practitioners seeking medical consultation in public hospitals due to work-related injuries in each of the past three years (with a breakdown by the type of work-related injury) and, among them, the number of cases of those who sought medical consultation being diagnosed to be suffering from musculoskeletal disorders or repetitive strain injury caused by work;
(b) of the number of cases of claims relating to work-related injuries or occupational diseases being filed by employees who are engaged in massage and acupressure work with the Employees' Compensation Division of the Labour Department in each of the past three years, the types of work-related injuries or occupational diseases involved and, among them, the number of cases involving musculoskeletal disorders or repetitive strain injury caused by work; and
(c) of the number of cases of employees suffering from musculoskeletal disorders or repetitive strain injury owing to massage and acupressure work seeking medical consultation from the Occupational Health Clinics of the Labour Department in each of the past three years (with a breakdown by the gender and the age group to which they belonged) and, among them, the number of cases in which the people who sought medical consultation were diagnosed to be suffering from the occupational diseases defined in the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282)?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the Hon Ip Wai-ming's question is as follows:
(a) The Hospital Authority does not have work-related injury statistics on workers in the massage and acupressure industry alone.
(b) The Labour Department adopts the broad industrial codes under the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification published by the Census and Statistics Department in the compilation of statistics on occupational injuries and occupational diseases (Note 1) rather than classifies data by individual industry. Therefore, we do not have statistics on occupational injuries and occupational diseases specifically for the massage and acupressure industry.
According to the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification, the massage and acupressure industry is classified under the group of "Miscellaneous Personal Services" (Note 2). The numbers of occupational injury and occupational disease cases in "Miscellaneous Personal Services" in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (up to the third quarter) were 298, 243 and 195 respectively.
(c) The two occupational health clinics of the Labour Department provide medical treatment and occupational health counselling services for workers suspected to have work-related diseases. The clinics also adopt the broad industrial codes under the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification to classify the industry in which patients work. Among the new cases seeking consultation in the clinics in 2006, 2007 and 2008, a total of 61, 83 and 52 patients respectively working in "Miscellaneous Personal Services" were diagnosed to have musculoskeletal disorders. Of these, one patient was confirmed to have tenosynovitis of the hand or forearm, but this patient did not work in the massage and acupressure industry.
In fact, workers in "Miscellaneous Personal Services" seek consultation at the clinics mainly because of pain over the back, neck and shoulders and upper limbs, as well as degenerative problems such as osteoarthritis of knees. These pain and degenerative problems are caused by the interplay of many factors, e.g. obesity, lack of exercise, excessive force, awkward posture, and static posture such as prolonged standing and sitting. Since these are common problems among the general public and are not limited to employees of specific sectors, they do not satisfy the definition of occupational diseases.
Note 1: Occupational injuries (including industrial accidents) are injury cases arising from work accidents, resulting in death or incapacity for work of over 3 days, and reported under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance. Occupational diseases are the confirmed occupational diseases reported under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, the Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance and the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance.
Note 2: "Miscellaneous Personal Services" includes industry of services such as barber, beauty, photo-printing and finishing, bath, massage, acupressure, and funeral.
Ends/Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Issued at HKT 11:56
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