Labour Department launches container-handling safety campaign

Updated at 7.16pm: The Labour Department on Tuesday launched a container-handling safety campaign that will run until April 29.

Occupational safety officers from the department will visit more than 100 container-handling workplaces in the territory to promote safety measures required for inspection of freight containers.

A department spokesman said that two workers were burned in a serious accident at Cha Kwo Ling Cargo Working Area when they inspected freight containers laden with lumps of plastic waste recently.

He reminded employers who assigned workers to carry out similar tasks to take safety precautions.

?Employers are responsible for establishing a safe system of work for the inspection of plastic waste loaded inside freight containers. They should conduct a risk assessment for this kind of inspection work. Then, they should take into account the hazards identified and evaluated in the assessment when developing a safe system of work.

?In addition, employers are also responsible for providing their workers with safety information, instructions and training. They should supervise the workers to ensure they adopted safe practices when inspecting the plastic waste in freight containers,? he said.