Hot Topics: What’s behind Hong Kong’s new warning system to reduce risk of heatstroke among outdoor workers?

Outdoor workers in Hong Kong have been advised to rest when the temperature is too hot. A new three-tier warning system implemented last Monday aims to protect employees from heatstroke.

The Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stress at Work applies to those who work outdoors, as well as employees of indoor operations without air conditioning and those near heat sources or heat-generating equipment. The guidelines will be reviewed in two years.

The three-tier warning system is based on the Hong Kong Heat Index. Each level of the system has different recommended work adjustments for staff. The advice in the notes varies depending on how heavy the labour is.

Under the guidelines, scaffolders and bar-benders involved in “very heavy” labour are advised to rest during black or red warnings. Porters and concreters classified as involved in “heavy” labour can rest under the black warning, but with red alerts in place, they can take a 45-minute break for every 15 minutes of work.

Employers are not required to follow the heatstroke guidelines. But employers who do not follow the advice could still face legal consequences, warned Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han on a radio programme earlier this month.

“We will conduct inspections and issue advice or warnings if employers are not doing enough,” Sun said. “If some employers are repeatedly found deliberately not complying with the guidelines, and the environment poses a serious risk of heatstroke to workers, we will not rule out suing them.”

The guidelines were introduced after calls from unionists last summer, when Hong Kong experienced 22 hot nights in July. This was the highest number since records began in 1884.

Under the current law, heatstroke is categorised as a work injury. Employers who fail to maintain a work environment free of health risks for staff can be fined up to HK$10 million and spend two years in jail.

Staff writer

Question prompts:

• Why did the government introduce the new heatstroke guidelines?
• Do you think the new guidelines will be effective in helping workers? Explain using information from Context.

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Question prompts:

• What numbers on the Hong Kong Heat Index will set off amber, red and black heat stress warnings? Use Glossary to explain.
• Besides providing breaks for employees to rest, what other measures could employers take to prevent heatstroke?

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• Industry groups say they don’t know whether member companies have new arrangements in place
• Outdoor workers argue that halting one work type could affect production lines

The cleaning and construction sectors are still struggling to comply with a new warning system to protect workers from heatstroke, industry representatives say.

The groups said they were not aware whether most of their member companies had committed to the non-binding guidelines the day before its implementation, as many issues still needed to be ironed out on how to let workers rest during hot weather.

Among the eight cleaning and construction firms approached by the Post, only one said it would implement the system with measures such as sending SMS messages to workers based on alerts under the framework.

Separately, Terence Ng Choi-wah, president of the Hong Kong General Building Contractors Association, said: “Our members find the system difficult to follow as it is practically impossible for staff to constantly check on signals when they are working on machines.”

Ng said work processes involving heavy machinery such as concrete mixers could not be halted by simply “pressing a stop button”.

Representatives of the outdoor workers also warned that the guidance would be difficult to implement, especially at construction sites.

“There will be great difficulties in actual execution. Workers at construction sites range from a few hundred to a few thousand with different duties. It’s hard for a foreman to comprehend everything,” Hong Kong Construction Association executive director Godfrey Leung King-kwok told a radio show, arguing operations would become “very confusing”.

Leung added that halting one work type could lead to delays down the production line as procedures were related.

Unionist Lam Chun-sing said that the work-break threshold was too high, given the city had never experienced days corresponding to a black warning and had experienced fewer than 10 days qualifying for the red alert since 2014.

He expressed concern over whether employers would take advantage of the system, such as cutting rest time for workers if they had installed extra measures such as providing shelter or improved ventilation.

Staff writer

Question prompts:

• Identify TWO concerns employers have about the heatstroke guidelines and TWO that employees and unionists might have.
• What could the government do to address the concerns in your answers above?

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• Tens of thousands of workers worldwide have died from illnesses linked to extreme heat over recent decades
• Countries like Qatar and Cyprus have restricted outdoor working hours in hot temperatures

Rising global temperatures are increasing the risk of workers dying or becoming disabled from labouring in extreme heat, an international conference has been told.

The conference, held in Qatar, heard that tens of thousands of workers around the world have died from chronic kidney disease and other illnesses linked to extreme heat over recent decades.

Extreme heat and sun radiation unleash heatstroke, kidney, heart and lung diseases and raise cancer rates, according to researchers. Around one billion farm workers and tens of millions in construction and other outdoor industries are on the frontline, the conference was told. But swimming pool lifeguards, gardeners and postal delivery workers also face heat dangers.

There is no international standard for temperatures for outdoor work, but climate change has forced new scrutiny.

Last year’s World Cup in Qatar drew attention to workers toiling in temperatures that can top 50 degrees Celsius during the summer in countries across the Gulf.

Since 2021, Qatar has banned outdoor working between 10am and 3.30pm from June 1 to September 15. Its reforms have been praised by the UN labour agency, though some experts say more can be done.

Europe has also seen heatwaves. But apart from Qatar, Cyprus is one of the few countries to have restricted working hours, ordering extra breaks and heat-protective clothing when temperatures rise above 35 degrees.

But employers must comply with laws relating to health and safety issues at work, such as keeping on-site temperatures at a comfortable level and providing clean and fresh air.

In mainland China, central authorities in 2012 updated countrywide rules protecting workers’ rights amid high temperatures. Under the system, all outdoor work must halt if daytime temperatures reach 40 degrees at any point. Labourers also cannot work for more than six hours a day if the temperature is between 37 to 40 degrees.

Singapore consults the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index to gauge heat stress. Employers in the city state must conduct risk assessments and take precautionary actions to prevent heat stress on the job.

Staff writer

Question prompts:

• Using your own knowledge, explain why climate change has forced new scrutiny on outdoor workers’ conditions.
• Based on Issue, which method of protecting workers’ rights in extreme heat do you think is most appropriate for Hong Kong to learn from? Explain.

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• Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stress At Work: a three-colour code system comprising amber, red and black. The codes are based on the Hong Kong Heat Index – an amber warning is issued when the index reaches 30, changing to red at 32 and switching to black when it hits 34. Depending on the type of job and physical workload intensity, work can be suspended or a rest period allocated for 15 to 45 minutes.

• heatstroke: a condition caused by overheating, usually as a result of prolonged exposure to or physical exertion in high temperatures and when the human body is unable to cool down. The condition is most common in the summer months. Heatstroke is also caused by factors such as humidity, direct sunlight exposure and the intensity of work being done.

• Hong Kong Heat Index: a scientific temperature index used by the Hong Kong Observatory to monitor heat stress. It is modelled after the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index and takes into account moisture in the air, radiation and wind.

• Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index: a measure of the heat stress in an outdoor environment which takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed, sun angle and the portion of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location.

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Context:

• Why did the government introduce the new heatstroke guidelines? The guidelines were introduced following repeated calls from unions last year for better protections against heatstroke, as Hong Kong experienced 22 hot nights in July, the most since records began in 1884.

• Do you think the new guidelines will be effective in helping workers? Explain using information from Context. I think the new guidelines will not be very effective because they are not mandatory. Also, it would be hard for authorities to monitor how well the rules were implemented and how much the workers can rest.

Table:

• What numbers on the Hong Kong Heat Index will set off amber, red and black heat stress warnings? Use Glossary to explain. An amber warning is issued when the index reaches 30, upgrading to red at 32 and switching to black once it hits 34. Since heatstroke is not solely caused by high temperature, the weather could feel hotter depending on other factors like humidity. Therefore, to better protect workers from heatstroke, the system does not rely only on the recorded temperature but a more comprehensive index.

• Besides providing breaks for employees to rest, what other measures could employers take to prevent heatstroke? Setting up tents at construction sites, regular training for employees on heatstroke and safety, water and protective gear for labourers

News:

• Identify THREE concerns regarding the heatstroke guidance mentioned in the context and news. Employees might be concerned about how they can check the heat stress warnings during work and about the threshold for the warning levels being too high. Employers are concerned that many operations cannot just be stopped immediately and that the breaks could lead to delays down the production line.

• What could the government do to tackle the concerns? The government could send the warnings earlier in the day, push the notifications by SMS messages and announce the index and warnings on TV to let more people know. It could give subsidies to construction companies to hire more workers to catch up on the work schedule. It could set detailed compensation rates for heatstroke-affected workers to prevent companies from making unreasonable arrangements.

Issue:

• Using your own knowledge, explain why climate change has forced new scrutiny on outdoor workers’ conditions. Climate change has caused global temperatures to rise, meaning that workers are increasingly susceptible to the effects of heatstroke.

• Based on Issue, which method of protecting workers’ rights in extreme heat do you think is most appropriate for Hong Kong to learn from? Explain. I think Hong Kong could learn from Cyprus’s measures on protecting workers from summer heat, such as restricting working hours to prevent labourers from overworking during the humid summer. And instead of the suggested work-to-rest ratio under the new measure, it’s better to set mandatory breaks and provide workers with heat-protective clothing to make sure they have enough rest during summer time. (accept other reasonable answers)