Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ15: Hospital Authority's occupational safety and health measures
Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply
by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative
Council today (November 6):
Question:
Quite a number of frontline healthcare personnel have relayed to me that
the problem of public hospital staff encountering work injury accidents
or being diagnosed as suffering from work-related musculoskeletal
disorders (MSDs) has worsened in recent years. In this connection, will
the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(a) the respective numbers of cases of public hospital staff (i)
encountering work injury accidents and (ii) being diagnosed as suffering
from work-related MSDs in each of the past three years, and set out the
relevant figures in the table below:
(i) Work injury accidents
Year 2010–2011 2011–2012 2012-2013
---- ---------- ----------
---------
Allied health
professional
Supporting staff
Others
(ii) Diagnosed as suffering from work-related MSDs
Year 2010–2011 2011–2012 2012-2013
---- ---------- ----------
---------
Allied health
professional
Supporting staff
Others
(b) whether the Hospital Authority (HA) has assessed (i) if the figures
in the reply to (a) have reflected a serious problem of work injury
accidents, and (ii) the causes of work injury accidents; if it has, of
the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether HA has taken measures to improve the work procedures and
environment for its staff, with a view to reducing work injury
accidents; if it has, of the details of the measures and the
effectiveness indicators; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Hospital Authority (HA) has all along attached importance to the
occupational safety and health (OSH) of its staff. Apart from
establishing an occupational safety management system, HA has
implemented progressively a series of OSH policies and measures,
including formulating safety guidelines, preventive and control
measures, and undertaking periodic risk assessments, inspections and
reviews. HA staff can report injuries or incidents at work through an
electronic system. The system not only facilitates staff reporting
injuries at work, but also helps department heads and OSH officers
access the relevant information as early as possible for timely
investigation and formulation of improvement and preventive measures.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) The number of work injury cases in HA's hospitals for the past three
years is set in Annex.
HA does not maintain statistics on cases relating to work-related
musculoskeletal disorders.
(b) and (c) The number of work injury accidents in HA has been
decreasing over the past few years from 3 802 in 2010/11 to 3 303 in
2011/12 and further to 3 275 in 2012/13, marking a decrease of about 14%
in total.
HA will continue to implement improvement measures and initiatives,
taking into consideration causes of work injuries and the findings of
the OSH related risk assessment. Recent improvement measures to address
the three major types of work injury in HA, i.e. manual handling
operations, sharps or needle pricks and workplace violence are as
follows:
Manual Handling Operations
--------------------------
HA has introduced electrically-operated beds in recent years to improve
the working environment by reducing the manual work in operating
hospital beds. A safe lifting and handling programme was launched to
encourage staff to transfer patients and materials with handling
aids/equipment. Training in manual handling operations was enhanced.
Staff with relevant manual handling tasks are required to attend
induction training upon appointment and refresher courses during
employment.
Sharps or needle pricks
-----------------------------
HA has all along endeavoured to enhance the safe use of medical needles
or sharps. Measures implemented include introducing needleless apparatus
or medical needles or sharps with safety devices as well as developing
guidelines and measures on the disposal of medical sharps so that staff
in different posts can work and handle used medical needles or sharps
safely.
Established mechanism is also in place in HA for the reporting,
treatment and investigation of needle-prick injuries. The mechanism
allows injured staff to be followed up and treated in a timely manner.
Infection control teams of the hospitals will also be able to obtain the
relevant information more expeditiously to formulate further preventive
measures and enhancing the guidelines. In addition, the infection
control teams of the hospitals will organise regular training courses
for hospital staff so as to refresh and update their knowledge of safety
precautions.
Workplace violence
------------------
HA makes every endeavour to promote policies and measures to prevent
workplace violence. It enhances staff's awareness, knowledge and
self-management techniques on the handling and prevention of workplace
violence through a series of training courses and publicity work.
HA will continue to improve its OSH policies and measures having regard
to the causes of work injuries and the findings of risk assessments so
as to provide a safe working environment for staff.
Ends/Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:19
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