The temperature has been extremely hot recently. On July 24, the temperature even recorded a temperature of 36.1 degrees Celsius, setting a record for July in more than a century.
Front-line industries such as construction sites, cleaning, and outdoor repairs are areas with a high incidence of heat stroke. Many workers live in harsh and hot environments and face "bloodless work injuries" every minute.
However, whenever there is an issue of labor rights and interests, Hong Kong, which is based on the "rule of law", has not built up a strong "protective umbrella" for these workers.
First of all, although the Labour Department has set up a "Risk Assessment for Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work", which sets out in detail how to use the heat stress assessment checklist, the contents of the checklist and its reference examples, the guideline is not well known and has no binding effect. Most employers Second, according to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, if an employee is ill due to engaging in a certain type of work within a prescribed period and contracting a specified occupational disease due to the nature of the work, the disease will be It is a compensable "occupational disease", but heatstroke is not included in the list of occupational diseases specified in the Ordinance. There is absolutely no case for employers and employees to follow. Even if an employee has been hospitalized or even died of heatstroke in the past, there is no explicit stipulation that employers must protect employees.
However, the newly appointed Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Sun Yuhan, responded that he did not plan to include heat stroke as an occupational disease for the time being, but promised to "strengthen inspections" and further revise the guidelines, such as the introduction of the Observatory's heat index.
However, the categories of occupational diseases in the Employees' Compensation Ordinance were only revised in 1997, 1999 and 2005 respectively. In the following 17 years, there has been no change except for the format change in 2018.
Even after minor repairs, there are still many "gray areas" and unavoidable traps in the Employment Ordinance itself...
For details, please read the 329th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Electronic Weekly Newsletter (August 8, 2022)
"From the "No Compensation" of "Bloodless Work Injury", Who Supports the "Umbrella" for Workers?
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Labor justice.
1 | The entertainment industry is only the tip of the iceberg where the capital is strong and the labour is weak. Labour-capital justice is everywhere.
2 | Why is this or that ordinance always failing to effectively prevent work-related accidents?
Labor justice.
3｜"Bloodless Work Injury" But "No Compensation" Who Supports Workers
AFL Chairman and Legislative Council Election Committee member Lam Chun-sing has been concerned about labor issues for many years and has observed that there are many traps in the Employment Ordinance.
(Photo by O Jiale)
