Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work in a Hot Environment
This serves to remind you to (i) continue to maintain strong anti-epidemic awareness and (ii) take appropriate precautions to prevent heat stroke when working in a hot or humid environment.
(i) Maintain strong anti-epidemic awareness
With the rise in COVID-19 cases recently, please remind your staff to stay vigilant and strictly observe targeted social distancing and infection control measures. Participation in gatherings across of families and mask-off activities should be reduced with a view to preventing the spread of virus in the community and reducing their chance of getting infected with COVID-19.
In order to identify infected staff as early as possible and to curb the spread of the virus, please consider stepping up COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test (‘RAT’), both in terms of coverage and frequency, for your staff to facilitate early identification of hidden transmission chains. As the Centre for Health Protection (‘CHP’) has earlier announced that RAT positive cases will be verified by nucleic acid test under normal circumstances, Government Representatives may request your staff deployed to work at Government premises who have been tested positive by RAT to present to their supervisors or venues i/c the SMS showing the result of the nucleic acid test as well. In case the result of the nucleic acid test is negative, the staff should resume work as soon as possible.
According to CHP, a person who has recovered from COVID-19 will generally not be treated as a case again even if he/she is tested positive again within 90 days counting from the day on which he/she was last recorded by CHP as a positive case under the fifth wave. For the purpose of counting, the date on which the subject is recorded by CHP as a positive case is Day 0. Along the same vein, a recovered case will not be treated as a close contact again during the same 90-day period.
COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe cases and deaths, providing effective protection to those vaccinated from serious complications and even death after infection. Please encourage your staff to receive three doses of vaccines as early as possible before the local epidemic situation experiences any potential drastic change, so as to substantially reduce the risk of severe cases or deaths, thereby protecting themselves and their family members.
(ii) Prevention of Heat Stroke
You are reminded to take heed of necessary measures against heat stroke and sunburn in very hot weather for your staff undertaking outdoor activities. Heat stroke could occur if a staff works in a hot or humid environment for prolonged periods of time. You should arrange assessment of the risk of heat stress in the work environment and take appropriate preventive measures. If symptoms develop, such as dizziness, headache, nausea, shortness of breath or confusion, rest and seek help immediately, and seek medical advice as soon as possible. Publications on heat stress assessment in the work environment and prevention of heat stroke could be obtained from the Labour Department’s website (https://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/content2_9b.htm).
While the prolonged heat alert persists in recent few days, employees are at the risk of heat stroke in particular when they work outdoors in a hot environment. This email serves to remind you to take adequate preventive measures to protect your employees from suffering heat stroke.
The Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Cap 509), the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap 59) and their subsidiary regulations set out the general duties of employers in ensuring workers’ occupational safety and health. It is the legal responsibility of employers to assess the risks for their employees working in a hot environment and take preventive measures to prevent heat stroke. You are advised to take the preventive measures for staff working outdoors as set out below and any other effective measures as deemed appropriate:
– to consider rescheduling the outdoor work in cooler periods of the day as appropriate subject to operational needs; if practicable, consult the staff concerned on the adjustment of work time;
– to supply adequate drinking water to the staff;
– to provide sufficient spare masks to the staff for replacement; and
– to enhance staff’s awareness of the risk of heat stroke and health tips.
With a view to raising public awareness to the potential hazards of working in hot weather, the Occupational Safety and Health Council (“OSHC”), in collaboration with the Labour Department, reruns the promotional campaign on “Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work in a Hot Environment” (《預防在酷熱的工作環境下中暑》推廣活動) this year. We would like to share with you OSHC’s updated list of cooling products for employees who need to work outdoors under hot weather. Some promotional materials on the matter are also listed below for your reference.
(updated on Aug., 2022)
Letter to The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
(updated on Mar., 2022)
Letter to The Financial Secretary
(updated on Mar., 2022)
Guidelines for Recording Visitors’ ID Numbers
Practical guidelines for recording visitors’ ID numbers by security personnel from Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD).
- For security reasons, a security staff needs to monitor entry of visitors. The recording of the visitor’s HKID Card number by the security staff at the entrance of the building is allowed.
- The security staff should, wherever practicable, give the visitor the option to adopt other less privacy-intrusive alternatives than providing his HKID Card number, such as identification of the visitor by the flat occupant concerned, accepting his staff card or work permit as proof of his identity.
- The security staff should ensure that the previous entries in the visitor’s log book are concealed from visitors.
- The personal data recorded in the log book should be deleted as soon as practicable once the purpose of collection is fulfilled.
- It is recommended that entries in the log book should be deleted regularly and should not be retained over one month if no incident of security concern arises.
The above information is useful reference to the security personnel. (updated on Oct., 2021)
Hong Kong Security Personnel Day 2021
Minimum wage
The Hong Kong Government consultation period is open – New hourly minimum wages expected from 1st May 2015
Standard working hours
The government bodies are reviewing “standard working hours” for Hong Kong. Whist understanding the fundamentals for such a requirement the Security Industry will be significantly affected.