The Hong Kong government has said it is open to making a controversial labour importation scheme permanent, with tighter hiring rules for the catering industry and stiffer penalties for non-compliant employers to take effect on Tuesday. Commissioner for Labour Sam Hui Chark-shum said on Monday that the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), launched in September…
A Hong Kong school that summarily dismissed its principal after he was filmed swearing at security guards in Singapore could face a high legal threshold to justify the move if the dispute goes to court, a lawmaker has stated, likening the decision to a death sentence in the labour sector. Another lawmaker said the termination…
On a recent stormy Sunday, domestic helpers on their weekly day off were seen hastily erecting tents and laying out plastic sheets under footbridges and inside transport hubs in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan district as they sought refuge from the downpour. Dozens of tents were pitched around the pillars of the footbridges, while other groups…
Contractors should take “all reasonable steps”, such as installing CCTV cameras and setting up temporary cigarette storage points, to comply with a coming smoking ban on construction sites, Hong Kong labour authorities have said. They should also ask individuals to stop using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, even though they do not require lighting, the…
A Hong Kong court has fined a now-defunct bakery chain HK$251,800 (US$32,127) over unpaid wages and other entitlements exceeding HK$1.3 million. A liquidator for Taipan Bread & Cakes, Taipan Restaurant and their parent company, Vast Luck, pleaded guilty at Kowloon City Court on Monday to 96 charges under the Employment Ordinance, after the group failed…
Hong Kong simply has not developed the right mindset with respect to fire safety. Unless prompt, effective action is taken, we could be looking at more tragedies like the Wang Fuk Court disaster in Tai Po. The numbers are stark and overwhelming, yet the context from which they have been derived is even more frightening….
Hong Kong has recorded six consecutive “hot nights”, tying the longest such streak for May, as an intense heatwave grips the city. The Hong Kong Observatory said the minimum temperature at its headquarters had stayed at or above 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 Fahrenheit) for six straight days through Thursday night, equalling the previous May record…
A 68-year-old construction worker is in critical condition after being struck by an electric chain hoist at a Hong Kong government site undergoing drainage replacement works on Wednesday morning. The site on Yen Chow Street in Sham Shui Po is part of the government’s drainage pipe replacement project that spans from Tsuen Wan to West…
Smoking will be banned at construction sites in Hong Kong from July 17 under a government proposal sent to the legislature following the deadly blaze at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court last November. The government introduced three amendments to existing ordinances to improve fire safety at the sites on Tuesday. “Since the tragic fire which…
A 38-year-old Hong Kong air conditioner repairman has died after falling off a building in Kowloon City while doing repair works without any protective gear, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source familiar with the matter said police received a report at 12.15pm on Tuesday of a man falling from Billionaire Avant residential…