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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (May 19) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on reviewing occupational safety and health and employees' compensation system. The motion, to be moved by Hon Ip Wai-ming, says: "That, in view of the frequent occurrence of industrial accidents in recent years and a number of fatal industrial accidents that happened recently, which is unfortunate for the families, this Council urges that the Government must:
(a) comprehensively review the policy on occupational safety and health to reverse the existing policy of relying on the trades to exercise self-regulation on occupational safety and health;
(b) step up regular monitoring and inspection of industrial establishments, impose severe penalties on law-breaking employers, and make public the items in respect of which prosecutions have been instituted by the Labour Department during inspection;
(c) enact dedicated legislation to provide for the work procedures, safety measures and criminal liabilities for work-at-height activities, so as to reduce the occurrence of accidents involving fall of persons from height, which cause the largest number of fatal cases in the construction industry;
(d) motivate employers to faithfully shoulder the responsibility for safeguarding employees' occupational safety and health, allocate resources for employees' training, and provide facilities and a work environment that safeguard employees' occupational safety and health;
(e) stipulate that in the event of occurrence of accidents and occupational diseases in workplaces, including those involving subcontractors and self-employed persons, employers, contractors or persons in charge of the construction sites, etc. have to report such cases to the Government, so as to improve the reporting system for work injuries and occupational diseases, thereby enabling the authorities to obtain more accurate statistics on work injuries and occupational diseases;
(f) comprehensively review the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, including the inclusion of mental impairment under the category of injury in Schedule 1 and the classification of repetitive strain injury as a prescribed occupational disease under Schedule 2, so as to provide more comprehensive protection for employees who suffer work-related mental disorders and physical injuries; and apart from providing employees with financial compensation, improve the mechanisms for preventing work injuries and occupational diseases as well as rehabilitation, so as to assist the recovery of injured employees and their reintegration into the society; and
(g) set up a 'central employees' compensation fund' to centralise the management of work injuries, which is currently undertaken in a fragmented manner, to provide employees with a comprehensive compensation system."
Hon Lee Cheuk-yan will move an amendment to Hon Ip Wai-ming's motion.
Members will also debate another motion on concern about the quality and regulation of proprietary Chinese medicines. The motion, to be moved by Dr Hon Joseph Lee, says: "That some proprietary Chinese medicines are recently found to contain ingredients of forbidden drugs and toxic substances, arousing the concern of various sectors and, at the same time, exposing the loopholes in the Government's policy on Chinese medicine as well as the deficiencies of its regulatory system, which have led to problems in the registration system for proprietary Chinese medicines at the present stage and the fact that the quality of proprietary Chinese medicines available on the market cannot be assured, thus posing a threat to the life and health of the public; in view of this, this Council urges that the Government must expeditiously improve the policy on Chinese medicine, strengthen regulation and ensure the quality and safety of proprietary Chinese medicines available on the market, so as to safeguard pubic health."
Dr Hon Pan Pey-chyou and Hon Wong Ting-kwong will move amendments to Dr Hon Joseph Lee's motion respectively.
During the meeting, Members elected in the 2010 LegCo by-election will take the Legislative Council Oath. Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the audio web broadcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Monday, May 17, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:20
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