Provisional Legislative Council
Panel on Public Service
Meeting on 22 September 1997

Personal Safety of Civil Servants While on Duty

Introduction

Members have asked to be briefed on the guidelines and measures that are in place governing the protection of personal safety of civil servants while on duty. This paper describes the measures taken to promote the protection of safety and health of civil servants at work.

Safety and Health at Work in the Civil Service

2. The Government as a good employer is committed to promoting and ensuring the health and safety of its staff at work. With the support of Labour Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Council, seminars, talks, exhibitions and training courses have been organised for departmental management and staff to promote their awareness of occupational safety and health at work and to help them to comply with safety legislations and to develop and implement good measures and practices. On 23 September 1996, like many major employers in Hong Kong, the Government became a signatory to the Occupational Safety Charter, through which the Government affirmed its commitment to attaching importance to the safety and health of staff at work.

3. As advocated in the Safety Charter, safety and health at work are of utmost importance to both the management and staff, who are thus at the heart of the safety and health culture. The Charter emphasizes the importance of safety at work as a shared responsibility of the management and staff. Against this background, the Government have issued guidelines to departments on the introduction and enhancement of departmental safety policy and procedures which must have regard to their specific work culture and environment.

4. As the nature of work and working environment of civil servants are quite diverse, departmental management and staff compile internal operational manuals, guidelines and procedures to suit different circumstances if needed. These form part of their safety management measures and should cover the promotion and protection of personal safety and health for staff in general and for specific categories of staff while on duty. In addition, safety at work is usually a subject covered in departmental consultatives committees.

Safety and Health as an On-going Commitment

5. The promotion of occupational safety and health in the civil service is an on-going commitment. The Civil Service Bureau formed a working group in April 1996 to examine issues of occupational safety and health at work which have a service-wide impact. The Working Group is required to recommend to the Secretary for the Civil Service measures for promoting awareness of this issue and action by management and staff at departmental level. The working group is chaired by the Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service(3) and comprises representatives from the staff side of the four civil service consultative councils, the Occupational Safety and Health Council, and a number of departments. The working group has met five time and programmes relating to the training and promotion of safety and training have been organised.

Civil Service Bureau
September 1997