Hong Kong’s labour minister has said authorities aim to complete a revamp of the city’s heat-stress warning system by the end of this month, following criticism that the alert level was not increased during record-breaking temperatures.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Tuesday that changes to the Heat Stress at Work Warning system would require thorough preparatory work at several levels. This included setting the system’s activation thresholds and determining how alerts would be triggered to ensure seamless operation.
Any adjustments to optimise the system must address the challenges posed by climate change in Hong Kong, he added.
“Our current goal is to complete this work as quickly as possible, make any necessary adjustments promptly and put them into practice,” he said.
“I have discussed this with the Labour Department and the Hong Kong Observatory, asking them to spare no effort so that we can present the optimised plan to everyone by the end of August.”
The Labour Department came under criticism after its warning system remained at the lowest level despite the city’s forecaster recording 36.9 degrees Celsius (103 Fahrenheit) on August 9 – its highest temperature since records began in 1884.
