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The Labour Department had served a notice on Safety Specialist Services Limited (SSSL) yesterday withdrawing the recognition given to SSSL under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap. 59) and the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Confined Spaces) Regulation (Cap. 59AE) for running two safety training courses and the authorisations to issue certificates for completion of these two courses. The withdrawal takes effect today (June 4).
The two courses are the Mandatory Basic Safety Training Course for Employees in the Construction Industry and the Safety Training Course for Certified Workers in Confined Space Operations.
A spokesman for the Labour Department said that SSSL was found to have breached the conditions of authorisations for running these two courses. The department has gathered evidence that SSSL had used trainers not approved by the Commissioner for Labour and had substantially changed the contents of the two courses without the Commissioner's prior approval, in breach of the conditions attached to the recognition of the said courses. The decision to withdraw the recognition had come after thorough investigation and evidence gathering. SSSL had also been invited to give explanations and representations.
"We conduct regular inspections to monitor compliance by course providers with conditions of approval of safety training courses. This forms an important part of our efforts to ensure the standard of training provided by these courses. Failure to comply with the approval conditions may result in the withdrawal of the recognition of the courses and the authorisations to issue the relevant certificates," the spokesman warned.
Excluding SSSL, there are 89 approved course providers running mandatory basic safety training courses and 47 approved course providers running confined space certified worker safety training courses for the public. People who need to undertake the two affected courses may enrol in the courses run by these approved course providers. Information on the said courses is available on Labour Department's website (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/osh/content5.htm).
"Workers affected or requiring more information are welcome to call the Occupational Safety and Health Training Centre hotline on 2940 7076 or the department's occupational safety and health advisory telephone service hotline on 2559 2297," said the spokesman.
Ends/Friday, June 4, 2010
Issued at HKT 10:01
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