Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun today visited a construction site to call on contractors, employers and workers to pay attention to safety and health at work in confined spaces.

The revised Code of Practice for Safety & Health at Work in Confined Spaces (CoP) published by the Labour Department earlier will take effect on November 30.

Mr Sun said the Government has been encouraging the industry to provide a safer working environment, including wider adoption of the Smart Site Safety System in the construction industry.

“Advanced technology and equipment will be applied to transmit video recordings taken at the entrance and exit of confined space worksites as well as continuous air-monitoring results inside the confined spaces through a central management platform, enabling the management to perform real-time safety monitoring and maintain proper records.

“The system also helps to initiate evacuation and rescue procedures promptly in case of emergency to further improve occupational safety and health (OSH) in confined space work.”

The department pointed out that the revised CoP provides proprietors, contractors, competent persons and certified workers engaged in confined spaces work with practical guidance and technical information.

The CoP also imposes stricter requirements on proprietors and/or contractors to adopt technology to record videos at the entrance and exit of the confined space throughout the entire work period to monitor relevant personnel's compliance with the safety precautions.

The department will continue to conduct surprise inspections from time to time of workplaces carrying out confined space work, and check relevant work processes and equipment to ensure that workers' OSH is safeguarded.

If any violations of the OSH legislation are detected, stringent enforcement actions will be taken immediately without prior warning.

The labour chief called on proprietors and contractors of confined space work to observe the revised CoP’s provisions, take adequate safety measures and strengthen supervision to prevent accidents.

Workers also must raise their safety awareness and remain vigilant at all times, Mr Sun said, reiterating that the Government has long adopted the combination of legislation and enforcement, education and training, and publicity and promotion in striving to ensure workplace safety.

He stressed that employers and employees also have the shared responsibility to help ensure OSH.