LEGISLATION
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The Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance
(OSHO) provides for safety and health protection to employees in workplaces,
both industrial and non-industrial, including those working in offices,
commercial premises, schools, hospitals, clinics, laboratories and other
workplaces. As there is growing in number
of people who use the computer very frequently in their job, the Occupational Safety and Health (Display
Screen Equipment) Regulation was gazetted on The Regulation aims at
protecting the safety and health of employees who use display screen
equipment at work for prolonged periods of time. The main provisions of the
Regulation are as follows: - Code of Practice for Working with Display Screen
Equipment (under s.40 of
Ordinance) is issued by the Commissioner of Labour under Section 40 of the
Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Cap. 509). It provides a practical
guidance to person responsible for a workplace and employees. It gives clear
definition of the terms in the ordinance and how risk assessments required
under the Regulation should be performed. |
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WHO IS ELIGIBLE ‘USER’?
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If he, by the nature of
his work, e.g. data processing, telecommunications, computer graphic design,
etc, is required to use display screen equipment almost every day, (a) continuously for at least 4 hours
during a day; or (b) cumulatively for at least 6 hours
during a day. Breaks not exceeding 10
minutes in each hour shall not be considered as breaking the continuity of
use. Mis-classification either
way may lead to deviation from ideal workstation setup, thus risk to the
person involved. |
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ROLE OF THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORKPLACE
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l
perform a risk assessment of existing
workstations within 14 days after the commencement date. For new
workstations, the risk assessments shall be conducted before they are first
used by users. The responsible person shall review the assessment if there
has been a significant change in the conditions of the previous assessment or
in the workstation. l
so far as reasonably practicable, keep a
record of all risk assessments, and shall retain that record for a period of
at least 2 years after the workstation ceases to be used by any user; and
shall produce the record for inspection; l
shall take steps to reduce any risk
identified in a risk assessment to the lowest extent as is reasonably
practicable; l
so far as reasonably practicable, make
available to users a copy of the risk assessment record and the record of
actions taken after the assessment; l
so far as reasonably practicable, ensure
that the workstations in the workplace are suitable having regard to the
safety and health of users of those workstations; |
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THE ROLE OF THE EMPLOYER
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THE
ROLE OF A USER
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APPROACH OF THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY
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Initial risk assessment is conducted by Health, Safety and Environment Office in conjunction with Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. The Methodology was developed by Department of
Rehabilitation Sciences. It is a computerized system in which subjective
element is minimized by objective measurement. Assessment reports with
recommendations were sent to departments for record and follow-up action TRAINING FOR DSE
USERS l
Seminars in both Chinese
and English l
Similar
seminars provided by outside organisations l
Computer-based
training package to enable every user has the chance to assess to the training
at any time and place NEW DSE USER New users will
be identified by departments in their safety induction. Health, Safety and Environment Office will be informed and will carry out risk
assessment. Follow-up actions will be taken by departments |
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