The Sunday Morning Post article 'In legal first, firm fined $2,000 for exposing staff to risk of RSI' (March 5) refers to prosecution by the Labour Department of a Hong Kong employer under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance.
Repetitive strain injuries are non-fatal whereas environmental tobacco smoke, or passive smoking in the workplace, has been proven lethal.
The law states: 'An employer who fails to maintain the workplace in a condition that is, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health - intentionally, knowingly or recklessly - commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $200,000 and to imprisonment for six months.'
Allowing highly carcinogenic smoke to be inhaled by non-smokers in the workplace is a blatant breach of the law. In Australia, employers have been successfully sued on the basis of a similar law.
It is high time the Labour Department advertised and sought out workers whose health has been seriously damaged by such smoke and enforce fully - not selectively - the workplace safety laws.
Meanwhile, the government should consider suing the nicotine peddlers to pay for the costs of medical treatment, and ensuing loss of productivity, for nicotine addicts.
JAMES MIDDLETON, Pat Heung
