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More than half of the Fire Stream members who responded to a staff opinion survey conducted by the Fire Services Department (FSD) were supportive of the department's new proposal to reduce their conditioned working hours to 51 hours per week (the "new 51 Proposal").
The department is encouraged by the positive response of Fire Stream members to the proposal. It hopes that with the concerted efforts of the management and the staff side, the detailed proposal can be submitted to the policy bureaux concerned as soon as possible with a view to launching a trial scheme before the end of this year.
"The FSD management has, since mid-June, explored with the relevant staff unions and Fire Stream members in various units feasible ways to reduce the conditioned working hours. In the light of the concerns expressed by the staff unions and some staff members, the management has made certain modifications to the proposal. After briefing the FSD Departmental Consultative Committee (FSDCC) on the "new 51 Proposal" between early and mid-August and the issuing of the relevant consultation document, an opinion survey was conducted from August 20 to 25 to gauge the views of all Fire Stream members on the proposal," a spokesman for the FSD said.
Questionnaires were issued to a total of 6,335 Fire Stream members in the survey, which recorded a response rate of about 91.4 per cent. Of the 5,792 questionnaires returned, about 55.9 per cent (3,240) supported the "new 51 proposal" whereas about 29.6 per cent (1,712) were not supportive of the proposal. The number of questionnaires received signifying support to the proposal as compared to those not supportive was close to a 2-to-1 ratio. About 12.9 per cent (748) indicated no comment on the proposal and the remaining 1.6 per cent (92) of the questionnaires were invalid, such as returned blank forms or those with more than one choice made. The department announced the results of the survey at the FSDCC meeting held today (August 30).
"The management is encouraged by the result that more than half of the Fire Stream members are supportive of the proposal. Based on the results of the survey, the department will put forward a detailed proposal to the policy bureaux concerned in a bid to launch a trial scheme before the end of this year. The department will continue to maintain close communication with the staff unions and Fire Stream members concerned to firm up the implementation details of the trial," the department spokesman said.
"There is a need to conduct a trial on the new proposal to reduce the conditioned working hours of Fire Stream members. Should approval be given for the reduction of these officers' conditioned hours to 51 hours per week upon completion of the trial scheme and review by the parties concerned, the management will set up a working group to study the feasibility of further reducing the weekly conditioned working hours to 48 hours," the spokesman said.
The spokesman reiterated that in formulating the new proposal to reduce the conditioned working hours of Fire Stream members, the management had carefully considered various factors, including the prevailing deployment of front-line fire vehicles and manpower, capabilities of fire vehicles, requirements of operational procedures, emergency service coverage and target response time, etc, having regard to the three principles ("cost-neutral", "no additional manpower", and "maintaining the same level of service to the public"). The department hopes that the "new 51 Proposal" will be successfully implemented with concerted efforts by both the management and the staff side.
Ends/Thursday, August 30, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:13
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