SINCE the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) firstintroduced the “Occupational Safety andhealthTrainingprogramme”in2009,morethan160OccupationalSafetyandhealth(OSh) personnel of different grades andranks from over 60 bureaus/departments(B/Ds)havecompletedtheprogramme.Theparticipants acquired a basic knowledgeofOSh,andweregivenhands-ontrainingtoconductsafetyinspectionsandpreparesafety review reports in the programmethatlastedjustacoupleofdays.Participants attending the“General Training Course on Occupational

Safety and Health”held between July and August 2010.

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Civil Service Bureau

Interviews with participants of the “Occupational Safety and Health Training Programme” The “Occupational Safety and Health TrainingProgramme” comprises two courses, namely the“General Training Course on Occupational Safetyand Health” and the“Specialised TrainingCourseonSafetyReview”.

The“GeneralTrainingCourseonOccupationalSafetyandHealth”isafour-daycoursecoveringavarietyoftopics:OSHlegislation,conceptsofgoodhousekeepingintheworkplace,occupationalhealthhazards control, safety inspection, occupationalinjury investigation, fundamental principles ofpreventingaccidentsandsoon.

The “Specialised Training Course on SafetyReview” is afive-day course thatprovides furthertraining to participants on the knowledge andtechniques required for safety reviews, whichhelpsthemreviewandimprovemeasuresforOSHmanagement in B/Ds. The programme has beenwell received. Here two participants provide aninsightintowhattheygainedfromtheprogramme.

Manager (Safety and Health) of Hongkong Post, Agnes Chow Kim-mei Miss Chow is a Registered Safety Officer. Sheis primarily responsible for the OSH management,safetyinspection,safetyaudit,variousOSHtrainingand promotional activities, the promulgation ofdepartmental safety guidelines, etc. in the PostOffice.Professionallyqualified,MissChowenrolledin the “General Training Course on OccupationalSafety and Health” in September 2009 and the“Specialised Training Course on Safety Review”in January 2010 to better equip herself with OSHknowledgeandtechniques.

“The case study of an occupational injuryinvestigation in the ‘General Training Course onOccupational Safety and Health’ was very useful.Thetopicsonfiresafetyand5Sgoodhousekeepingin the workplace were also job-related,” saysMissChow.

MissChowalsosaysthatthecoursenotonlyprovided her with the latest information aboutOSH, but also an opportunity to meet the OSHpersonnel from other B/Ds, so that they couldsharetheirviewsandexperienceinOSH.

5SreferstofivehousekeepingprinciplesoriginatedinJapan.ItrepresentsfiveJapaneseterms,namely“Seiri,Seiton,Seiso,Seiketsu,Shitsuke”,whichmean“Organisation,Neatness,Cleanliness,Standardisation,Discipline”.

OSH Training Programmebenefits all

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As Miss Chow has to conduct regular safetyreviews for the Department, the case studyrequired by the “Specialised Training Course onSafety Review” posed no difficulty for her. ShechosetheWahFuPostOffice(WFPO)toconductan on-site safety review. Small in size, WFPO isengagedintwocorebusinesses,namelyretailsalesanddeliveryservice,whichmeettherequirementsofa case study.ShevisitedWFPOandobservedthe running of the workplace and the manualhandlingofmailbags.ShealsoinspectedthefiresafetyinstallationsatWFPO.

“We had to apply the knowledge andtechniques which we learnt in class to the casestudy, such as writing skills and formats forpreparing a review report,” says Miss Chow.“I learnt how to quote the current laws tosupplement the contents of the report. It wasprepared at a standard higher than the regularsafetyauditreportsweusedtoprepareinternally.”

Miss Chow conscientiously submitted thereport to her supervisor and sent a summary toWFPO for follow-up action. In response, WFPOsoon implemented the suggested measures forimprovement.

The presentation of safety review reportswasMissChow’smost favourite coursemodule.“The safety review reports presented bydifferent groups were based upon the practicalOSHexperiencesofvariousB/Ds,”saysMissChow.“We found that much could be learnt from eachotherthroughsharing.”

Senior Operations and Training Officer (Tactical Force) of Civil Aid Service, Leung Hung-hei Mr Leung is responsible for assisting theHeadofDepartmentinformulatingsafetypolicy,conductingsafetyinspectionsoftheheadquartersand the three training centres, investigatingaccidents, organising OSH workshops andattending regular meetings of the four OSHconsultativecommitteeswithintheDepartment.

With the encouragement of the Department,MrLeungtooktheOSHcertificatecourse in1997and the diploma course in 2000. He joined the“General Training Course on Occupational Safetyand Health” organised by CSB between July andAugustthisyear.

“After completing the certificate and diplomacoursesonOSH,Ialwaysreadtherelevantjournalsand keep myself abreast of the latest informationon OSH,” says Mr Leung. “I wish to learn moreaboutOSHthroughthe‘GeneralTrainingCourseonOccupationalSafetyandHealth’.”

Mr Leung was particularly interested in themodulesconcerningemergencyresponseplanning,safetyinspectionandaccidentinvestigation. “Through practical sessions in class, weunderstood how other B/Ds or organisationsdevised their own emergency response plans,”continues Mr Leung. “This helped us furtherbroaden our horizons in formulating emergencyplans. The theories on safety inspection andaccidentinvestigationandthesharingofcasesinclassalsoprovedveryusefultomydutiesinsafetyinspectionandaccidentinvestigation.”

Promoting OSH culture While encouragingB/Ds to beef up OSHtrainingtomeetpracticalneeds,CSB takes advicefromtheWorkingGroupon Occupational Safety and Health in the CivilService and continues to organise various OSHeducational and promotional activities, includingseminarsonvarioussubjects,aswellasworkshopsandexhibitions.Thewebpage,“OccupationalSafetyand Health in the Civil Service“ (http://www.csb.gov.hk/osh), is also updated regularly, providingthe latest OSH information and OSH messages toourcolleagues.

Participants and instructor (third left, front row) of the“Specialised Training Course on Safety Review”held between January and March 2010.