​Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, on mandatory reporting of child abuse and industrial accident at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (July 12):

Reporter: Secretary, can you also explain in English how the application for professionals on reporting suspected child abuse cases could properly guide them in knowing what to be reported and what not to be reported? And separately, on the industrial accident that happened two days ago, what is the investigation process right now, and any concerns regarding construction works under adverse weather?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Thank you very much. Starting from mid-January next year, all the professionals covered by the law will be obliged to report serious child abuse cases. To help them discharge their legal obligations, we will soon launch training for them, so that they can make use of a tailor-made system which they can click into through the website by answering multiple choice questions. The system will at the end let them know whether the case is one that they have to report under the law, or is not a mandatory reporting case. I think the purpose is to make sure that all the professionals have peace of mind when comes to the obligations under the law. Through the system, instead of going through a very thick book of reporter guideline, they can just answer the questions. There will not be a lot of questions, just around ten or something more, and there will be a lot of notes to help them answer the questions. I think this may be the first of its kind in the world, if not for all languages, clearly for the Chinese language system. We will keep on improving the system.

     As for the industrial accident happened two days ago, we are very concerned about this very serious incident. We have already issued a suspension notice, i.e. work is not allowed to be taken during the period when the notice is in force. At the same time, we are investigating the incident making sure that the employer is doing everything they could, to provide all the precautionary measures to make sure that workers who are undertaking work in inclement weather are adequately protected. We are moving along this direction. Thank you very much.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)

Ends/Saturday, July 12, 2025
Issued at HKT 13:52

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