Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Email this article news.gov.hk
LCQ15: Hospital Authority's occupational safety and health measures
***********************************************************

     Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (November 6):

Question:

     Quite a number of frontline healthcare personnel have relayed to me that the problem of public hospital staff encountering work injury accidents or being diagnosed as suffering from work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) has worsened in recent years.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

(a) the respective numbers of cases of public hospital staff (i) encountering work injury accidents and (ii) being diagnosed as suffering from work-related MSDs in each of the past three years, and set out the relevant figures in the table below:

(i) Work injury accidents

Year              2010¡V2011  2011¡V2012  2012-2013
----              ----------  ----------  ---------

Allied health
professional

Supporting staff

Others
 
(ii) Diagnosed as suffering from work-related MSDs

Year              2010¡V2011  2011¡V2012  2012-2013
----              ----------  ----------  ---------

Allied health
professional

Supporting staff

Others
 
(b) whether the Hospital Authority (HA) has assessed (i) if the figures in the reply to (a) have reflected a serious problem of work injury accidents, and (ii) the causes of work injury accidents; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(c) whether HA has taken measures to improve the work procedures and environment for its staff, with a view to reducing work injury accidents; if it has, of the details of the measures and the effectiveness indicators; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:

President,

     The Hospital Authority (HA) has all along attached importance to the occupational safety and health (OSH) of its staff.  Apart from establishing an occupational safety management system, HA has implemented progressively a series of OSH policies and measures, including formulating safety guidelines, preventive and control measures, and undertaking periodic risk assessments, inspections and reviews.  HA staff can report injuries or incidents at work through an electronic system.  The system not only facilitates staff reporting injuries at work, but also helps department heads and OSH officers access the relevant information as early as possible for timely investigation and formulation of improvement and preventive measures.

     My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:

(a) The number of work injury cases in HA's hospitals for the past three years is set in Annex.

     HA does not maintain statistics on cases relating to work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

(b) and (c) The number of work injury accidents in HA has been decreasing over the past few years from 3 802 in 2010/11 to 3 303 in 2011/12 and further to 3 275 in 2012/13, marking a decrease of about 14% in total.

     HA will continue to implement improvement measures and initiatives, taking into consideration causes of work injuries and the findings of the OSH related risk assessment.  Recent improvement measures to address the three major types of work injury in HA, i.e. manual handling operations, sharps or needle pricks and workplace violence are as follows:

Manual Handling Operations
--------------------------
     HA has introduced electrically-operated beds in recent years to improve the working environment by reducing the manual work in operating hospital beds.  A safe lifting and handling programme was launched to encourage staff to transfer patients and materials with handling aids/equipment.  Training in manual handling operations was enhanced.  Staff with relevant manual handling tasks are required to attend induction training upon appointment and refresher courses during employment.

Sharps or needle pricks
-----------------------------
     HA has all along endeavoured to enhance the safe use of medical needles or sharps.  Measures implemented include introducing needleless apparatus or medical needles or sharps with safety devices as well as developing guidelines and measures on the disposal of medical sharps so that staff in different posts can work and handle used medical needles or sharps safely.

     Established mechanism is also in place in HA for the reporting, treatment and investigation of needle-prick injuries.  The mechanism allows injured staff to be followed up and treated in a timely manner.  Infection control teams of the hospitals will also be able to obtain the relevant information more expeditiously to formulate further preventive measures and enhancing the guidelines. In addition, the infection control teams of the hospitals will organise regular training courses for hospital staff so as to refresh and update their knowledge of safety precautions.  

Workplace violence
------------------
     HA makes every endeavour to promote policies and measures to prevent workplace violence.  It enhances staff's awareness, knowledge and self-management techniques on the handling and prevention of workplace violence through a series of training courses and publicity work.

     HA will continue to improve its OSH policies and measures having regard to the causes of work injuries and the findings of risk assessments so as to provide a safe working environment for staff.

Ends/Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:19

NNNN

Print this page