Code of Practice on Safety Management

1 code OF Practice ON Safety MANAGEMENT1 code OF PRACTICEOnSafety ManagementOccupational Safety and Health BranchLabour DepartmentCODE OF Practice ON Safety MANAGEMENT2 This code of Practice is prepared by theOccupational Safety and Health BranchLabour DepartmentFirst edition April 2002 This code of Practice is issued free of charge and can be obtained from offices of theOccupational Safety and Health Branch. Its contents can also be downloaded from theLabour Department website at through theInternet. For enquiries about addresses and telephone numbers of the offices, please contactus through telephone 2559 code of Practice may be freely reproduced except for advertising, endorsement orcommercial purposes.

2 Please acknowledge the source as " code of Practice on SafetyManagement", published by the Labour OF Practice ON Safety OF PROPRIETORS AND , IMPLEMENTING AND MAINTAINING A SAFETY18 Management How to develop a Safety Management system ? How to implement a Safety Management system ? How to maintain a Safety Management system ? Management model to develop, implement and maintain a safety27management Application of the Management model to individual elements of a28safety Management Application of the Management model to Safety audits or ELEMENTS OF A Safety Management A Safety policy which states the commitment of the proprietor31or contractor to Safety and health at A structure to assure implementation of the commitment to safety34and health at Training to equip personnel with knowledge to work safely and40without risk to In-house Safety rules to provide instruction for achieving safety45management A programme of inspection to identify hazardous conditions and47for the rectification of any such

3 Conditions at regular intervals oras appropriateCONTENTSCODE OF Practice ON Safety A programme to identify hazardous exposure or the risk of such50exposure to the workers and to provide suitable personalprotective equipment as a last resort where engineeringcontrol methods are not Investigation of accidents or incidents to find out the cause of any54accident or incident and to develop prompt arrangementsto prevent Emergency preparedness to develop, communicate and execute58plans prescribing the effective Management of emergency Evaluation, selection and control of sub-contractors to ensure that60sub-contractors are fully aware of their Safety obligations andare in fact meeting Safety Evaluation of job related hazards or potential hazards70and development of Safety Promotion, development and maintenance of safety77and health awareness in a A programme for accident control and elimination of hazards79before exposing workers to any adverse work A programme to protect workers from occupational health What is a " Safety Audit" ?

4 The appointment of a registered Safety auditor to conduct a Assistance, facilities and information to be provided for the purposes 96of Safety Things to observe when the Safety auditor is an employee of the99proprietor or Actions to be taken on Safety audit Obligation to produce Safety audit report or plan for inspection103 code OF Practice ON Safety What is a " Safety Review"? The appointment of a Safety review officer to conduct a Safety Assistance, facilities and information to be provided for the111purposes of Safety Things to observe when the Safety review officer is an employee of114the proprietor or Action to be taken on Safety review Obligation to produce Safety review report or plan for inspection118 REFERENCES119 USEFUL INFORMATION122 code OF Practice ON Safety MANAGEMENT6In 1995, the Government conducted a comprehensive review of industrial safetywith a view to mapping out Hong Kong's long-term Safety strategies.

5 The Reviewconcluded that for Hong Kong to achieve high standards of Safety and health atwork, enterprises must embrace self-regulation and Safety Management . TheReview recommended that the Government should provide a framework withinwhich self-regulation was to be achieved through a company system of this background, the Government has introduced a Safety managementsystem consisting of 14 elements. It has promoted the system through launchingpilot schemes, publishing an Occupational Safety Charter, organising seminarsand promotional visits, and issuing a Guide to Safety system is now enshrined in the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (SafetyManagement) Regulation [hereinafter called "the Safety ManagementRegulation"] passed on 24 November the Safety Management Regulation, proprietors or contractors of certainindustrial undertakings are required to develop, implement and maintain inrespect of the undertakings a Safety Management system which contains anumber of key process elements.

6 They are also required to have the systemregularly audited or code of Practice on Safety Management [hereinafter called the COP] is aCode of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Labour under section 7A(1) ofthe Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap. 59). It aims to providepractical guidance for proprietors and contractors of relevant industrialundertakings to comply with the aforesaid legal requirements. It sets out, inPart 4, how proprietors or contractors should develop, implement and maintaina Safety Management system. It provides, in Part 5, practical guidance in respectof the 14 elements of a Safety Management system. It also provides, in Part 6and Part 7, practical guidance on Safety audits and Safety and foremost, however, proprietors and contractors should refer to Part 3of this COP for practical guidance on their level and scope of responsibilitiesunder the Safety Management Regulation in relation to their industrialundertakings' size of employment and the value of work INTRODUCTIONCODE OF Practice ON Safety MANAGEMENT7 This COP has a special legal status.

7 Although failure to observe any guidance given inthis COP is not in itself an offence, that failure may be taken by a court in criminalproceedings as a relevant factor in determining whether or not a person has breachedany of the provisions of the Safety Management Regulation to which the statutory provisions referred to or quoted in this COP are those in force on1 April OF Practice ON Safety MANAGEMENT8In this COP, unless the context otherwise requires -"construction site" ( !) means a place where construction work isundertaken and also any area in the immediate vicinity of any such place whichis used for the storage of materials or plant used or intended to be used for thepurpose of the construction work;"copy" ( ), in relation to any document, includes the original of the document;"designated undertaking" ( !)

8 Means an industrial undertaking involving anyof the following activities -(a)the generation, transformation and transmission of electricity;(b) the generation and transmission of town gas, or liquefied petroleum gas,within the meaning of section 2 of the Gas Safety Ordinance (Cap. 51); or(c)container handling;"hazard"* ( ) means a source or a situation with a potential for harm in terms ofhuman injury or ill-health, damage to property, damage to the environment, or acombination of these;"ill-health"* ( !) means ill-health that is judged to have been caused by ormade worse by a person's work activity or work environment;"incident"* ( ) means an unplanned event which has the potential to lead toaccident;"registered" ( ) means registered under section 6(1) of the Safety ManagementRegulation as a Safety auditor or scheme operator;"registered Safety auditor" ( !)

9 "#$) means a person registered as a safetyauditor;"registered scheme operator" ( !"#$) means a person registered as ascheme operator;"relevant industrial undertaking" ( !"#), in relation to a proprietor orcontractor specified in Schedule 3 of the Safety Management Regulation, means theindustrial undertaking specified in that Schedule (and howsoever worded) inconnection with the proprietor or contractor, as the case may be;"risk"* ( !") means the combination of the likelihood and consequenceof a specified hazardous event occurring;2. INTERPRETATIONCODE OF Practice ON Safety MANAGEMENT9 Interpretation"risk assessment"* ( !) means the overall process of estimating themagnitude of risk and deciding whether or not the risk is tolerable.

10 It alsoincludes the process of recognizing that a hazard exists and defining itscharacteristics;"risk control"* ( !) means the overall process of developing,implementing and maintaining the Safety procedures and risk controlmeasures. It also includes the review of the Safety procedures and risk controlmeasures;" Safety audit" ( !) means an arrangement for -(a) collecting, assessing and verifying information on the efficiency,effectiveness and reliability of a Safety Management system (including theelements specified in Schedule 4 of the Safety Management Regulationcontained in the system); and(b) considering improvements to the system;" Safety audit report" ( !"#) means a report compiled by a registeredsafety auditor after the completion of a Safety audit;" Safety auditor" ( !)