Legislative Council
LC Paper No. LS14/99-00
Paper for the House Committee Meeting
of the Legislative Council
on 15 October 1999
Legal Service Division Report on
Resolution under section 7 of the Factories and Industrial
Undertakings Ordinance (Cap. 59)
The Secretary for Education and Manpower has given notice to move a motion under section 7 of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance on 27 October 1999 to seek the Council's approval of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation (the Regulation) as made by the Commissioner for Labour (the Commissioner) on 11 October 1999.
2. Members may recall that at the end of the last session in July 1999 the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Amendment) Bill 1999 was passed (gazetted later as Ordinance No. 53 of 1999). The amending bill specifically empowers the Commissioner to make regulations requiring proprietors and contractors of industrial undertakings to develop, implement and maintain safety management systems.
3. Members may refer to LegCo Brief EMBCR 2/2961/95 dated 15 January 1999 issued by the Education and Manpower Bureau in respect of both the amending bill and the draft of the Regulation. In the Brief, it was indicated that after the amending bill had been passed into law, the Regulation should be made by the Commissioner for the approval of the Council.
4. The Regulation will require contractors or proprietors of construction sites, shipyards, factories and other designated industrial undertakings with 100 or more workers, as well as construction projects with contract value of $100 million or more, to adopt 10 of the 14 process elements of the safety management system and to carry out safety audits. Designated industrial undertakings are those involved in the generation and transmission of electricity, town gas or liquefied petroleum gas and in the handling of containers.
5. Construction sites and industrial undertakings employing 50 to 99 workers each will be required to adopt 8 of the 14 process elements of the safety management system and to carry out safety reviews.
6. It is intended that there will be a review one year after the Regulation has come into force to decide on the appropriate time to bring the remaining 4 process elements into operation and to extend the application of the Regulation to industrial undertakings employing less than 50 workers.
7. The Panel on Manpower was briefed on the amending bill and the draft Regulation on 7 January 1999. Subsequently, the draft Regulation was also discussed at some length at the Bills Committee to study the amending bill.
8. Members may find it advisable to form a subcommittee to study in detail the policy and technical aspects of the Regulation.
Prepared by
CHEUNG Ping-kam, Arthur
Assistant Legal Adviser
Legislative Council Secretariat
12 October 1999
