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立法會 Legislative Council LC Paper No. CB(2)1199/20-21 (These minutes have been seen by the Administration) Ref : CB2/PL/MP Panel on Manpower Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday, 16 March 2021, at 4:30 pm in Conference Room 1 of the Legislative Council Complex Members : Hon LUK Chung-hung, JP (Chairman) present Hon CHAN Chun-ying, JP (Deputy Chairman) Hon YIU Si-wing, BBS Hon Alice MAK Mei-kuen, BBS, JP Hon KWOK Wai-keung, JP Hon POON Siu-ping, BBS, MH Hon CHUNG Kwok-pan Hon SHIU Ka-fai, JP Hon Wilson OR Chong-shing, MH Hon YUNG Hoi-yan, JP Dr Hon Pierre CHAN Hon Vincent CHENG Wing-shun, MH, JP Members : Hon WONG Kwok-kin, SBS, JP absent Dr Hon CHIANG Lai-wan, SBS, JP Public Officers : Items III and IV attending Mr HO Kai-ming, JP Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare Item V Mr HO Kai-ming, JP Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare - 2 - Mr Jeff LEUNG Wing-yan, JP Deputy Commissioner for Labour (Occupational Safety and Health) Mr WU Wai-hung, JP Assistant Commissioner for Labour (Occupational Safety) Mr WAN Chi-ping Chief Occupational Safety Officer (System and Support) Labour Department Item VI Mr HO Kai-ming, JP Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare Mr Chris SUN Yuk-han, JP Commissioner for Labour Mr Raymond HO Kam-biu, JP Assistant Commissioner for Labour (Development) Clerk in : Miss Betty MA attendance Chief Council Secretary (2) 1 Staff in : Ms Rita LAI attendance Senior Council Secretary (2) 1 Miss Lulu YEUNG Clerical Assistant (2) 1 Action I. Information paper issued since the last meeting (LC Paper No. CB(2)878/20-21(01)) 1. Members noted that the Administration's response to issues raised in the letter dated 4 February 2021 from Mr Tony TSE regarding the proposal to raise penalties of occupational safety and health ("OSH") legislation had been issued since the last meeting. - 3 - Action II. Date of next meeting and items for discussion (LC Paper Nos. CB(2)862/20-21(01) and (02)) Regular meeting in April 2021 2. Members agreed that the following items proposed by the Administration be discussed at the next regular meeting at 4:30 pm on 20 April 2021: (a) Major findings of the 2020 Annual Earnings and Hours Survey; (b) Major findings of the Thematic Household Survey on employees engaged under employment contracts with short duration or working hours in 2019-2020; and (c) Abolition of using employers' mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund System to "offset" severance payment and long service payment. 3. Given that the Administration would introduce the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 into the Legislative Council ("LegCo") on 17 March 2021, the Chairman suggested and members agreed that it would not be necessary for the Administration to provide members with an update on the progress of the proposal to increase progressively the number of statutory holidays under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) ("EO") at future meetings of the Panel. III. Update on the proposal to abolish the offsetting arrangement under the Mandatory Provident Fund System 4. At the invitation of the Chairman, the Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare ("USLW") provided members with an update on the preparatory work for abolishing the "offsetting" arrangement under the Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") System ("the "offsetting" arrangement"), as detailed in his speaking note. (Post-meeting note: The speaking note of USLW was issued to members vide LC Paper No. CB(2)888/20-21 on 17 March 2021.) - 4 - Action IV. Update on the proposal to increase progressively the number of statutory holidays under the Employment Ordinance 5. At the invitation of the Chairman, USLW provided members with an update on the proposal to increase progressively the number of statutory holidays under EO, as detailed in his speaking note. (Post-meeting note: The speaking note of USLW was issued to members vide LC Paper No. CB(2)888/20-21 on 17 March 2021.) V. Refining the notification requirements for construction works under the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (LC Paper No. CB(2)862/20-21(03)) 6. USLW briefed members on the Labour Department ("LD")'s legislative amendment proposal to refine the statutory notification mechanism for construction works, as detailed in the Administration's paper. The legislative proposal 7. Mr POON Siu-ping said that the Federation of Hong Kong Electrical and Mechanical Industries Trades Unions was in support of the legislative proposal to address the potential risk of constructional injuries and fatalities. Mr Wilson OR welcomed the proposal to refine the statutory notification mechanism for construction works and make necessary improvement. 8. Mr Wilson OR sought clarification as to whether the 68 construction fatal accident cases that happened between 2009 and 2018 involving work duration of less than six weeks or employment of not more than 10 workers would be regarded as higher risk construction works under the proposal in paragraph 6 of the Administration's paper. Mr POON Siu-ping sought information on the number of such construction fatal cases that were relatively higher risk construction works. The Chairman enquired about the rationale for expanding the scope of notification to the four types of relatively higher risk construction works only in the Administration's proposal. 9. In response to members' concerns, DC for L (OSH) advised that as some construction works with short duration or engaging fewer workers - 5 - Action might involve operations carrying relatively higher potential risk, the Administration proposed to expand the scope of notification to four types of relatively higher risk construction works involving work duration of less than six weeks or employment of not more than 10 workers. LD had examined 182 construction fatal accident cases that happened from 2009 to 2018 and found that 68 cases involved work duration of less than six weeks or employment of not more than 10 workers. Notably, about 50% of these fatalities (i.e. 33 cases) could be grouped under the four types of relatively higher risk construction works to be included in the revised statutory notification mechanism, while the rest of these 68 construction fatal accident cases involved a wide distribution of work types. The Chairman called on the Administration to consider further expanding the scope of notification to cover a wider range of higher risk construction works. 10. While expressing support for the legislative proposal, Mr KWOK Wai-keung and Ms Alice MAK were concerned about the effectiveness of the proposal in preventing the occurrence of construction fatal accidents. 11. USLW advised that the Government attached great importance to each and every industrial fatality and would strive to improve the occupational safety performance, including expanding the scope of the notification mechanism, strengthening the inspection and enforcement work and taking forward further legislative amendment exercise as necessary. The Government would closely monitor and review the effectiveness of the legislative proposal in enhancing work safety after its coming into operation. DC for L (OSH) added that it was expected that the proposed expansion of the scope of notification to include the four types of relatively higher risk construction works would contribute positively to the occupational safety performance of the construction sector. Under the revised statutory notification mechanism, LD would be able to obtain the necessary information for risk assessment of the construction works and make arrangement for early inspection to construction sites carrying relatively higher risk. This would help prevent the occurrence of construction accidents. Risk assessment and safety inspections 12. Mr POON Siu-ping sought information on the estimated increase in the number of construction works to be reported under the revised statutory notification mechanism and enquired about the impact on the - 6 - Action related inspection and enforcement work. Ms Alice MAK was concerned whether LD had sufficient manpower to cope with the additional inspection and enforcement work arising from the revised notification mechanism. 13. Mr KWOK Wai-keung was concerned whether LD could duly conduct prior risk assessment of the construction works after adjusting the notification deadline from "within seven days after the commencement of the works" to "before the commencement of the works" and conduct on-site safety inspection under the revised notification mechanism. Mr KWOK asked about the difference between the average time required for making arrangement for the site inspection upon receipt of notification from contractors concerned under the existing and the revised statutory notification mechanism. 14. The Chairman asked about the requisite information to be submitted when notifying LD of the construction works under the revised statutory notification mechanism and how risk assessment of construction works would be conducted for making a decision as to whether inspection to the workplaces was needed. 15. Responding to members' concerns, DC for L (OSH) advised that it was expected that the number of notified construction works would increase significantly under the revised statutory notification mechanism, in particular works of truss-out scaffolds in view of several thousands of such works each year. LD had all along adopted a risk-based approach in conducting inspections with priority accorded to higher risk workplaces. Besides, LD would review the information submitted under the notification mechanism to identify higher risk workplaces for early inspection. 16. Assistant Commissioner for Labour (Occupational Safety) ("AC for L (OS)") added that although it would be difficult to specify the time needed for carrying out risk assessment of the construction works upon receipt of notification from the contractors concerned, it could be completed within a short period of time. Under the existing statutory notification mechanism, inspection would be conducted to the worksites so notified, which were mainly of medium- to large-scale and priority would be given to those worksites with higher risk.