Hong Kong’s new warning system aimed at protecting the health of outdoor workers when temperatures soar is too hard to follow and could be made much simpler, according to environmental campaigners and a grassroots advocacy group.
The “Heat Stress at Work” warning system was launched by the Labour Department in May, accompanied by guidelines advising firms to give their staff breaks of varying lengths each hour, depending on how strenuous their work is and which of three warning levels has been issued – amber, red or black.
The warning system uses a heat stress index developed by the observatory and Chinese University.
But Greenpeace and the Hong Kong Workers' Health Centre on Thursday pointed out that the warnings can sometimes be repeatedly issued, retracted and then issued again over short periods of time, confusing both companies and their workers.
The chairman of the health centre, Yu Tak-sun, said it would be better to link the heatstroke prevention guidelines to the observatory's warnings for the general public regarding very hot or extremely hot weather.
"This will avoid the problem of having two different warning systems about heat and these two warnings systems sometimes become disparate from one another," Yu said.
He added that firms would have more time to get ready to implement the heatstroke guidelines if they were based on the general hot weather warnings, being as these are issued even before temperatures rise.
In response, the Labour Department said the heat stress index considers factors such as the temperature, humidity, air movement, solar radiation and hospital admissions. It stressed that given the higher humidity during the summer, the index accurately reflects the level of heat stress and associated health risks.
The department advises employers and workers to follow its guidelines and implement measures to reduce heat-related illnesses.
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Last updated: 2023-08-10 HKT 22:18
'Heatstroke warning system unnecessarily complicated'
2023-08-10 HKT 17:47
