Hong Kong’s revised heat stress warning system may lack rest provisions: experts

Hong Kong’s outdoor workers may still lack adequate rest under the revamped heat stress warning system, a lawmaker and a construction industry representative have said, adding that work breaks triggered by higher alerts are not protected by law.

Their views followed a Thursday announcement by the Labour Department to revise operations behind the Heat Stress at Work Warning system to better safeguard outdoor workers, after a lack of higher alerts during record-breaking temperatures earlier this month drew citywide criticism.

Lawmaker Lam Chun-sing, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, said on Friday that the department should consider extending rest days to workers with moderate workloads under the highest level warning, so that street cleaners could be covered.

“Aside from modifying the triggering mechanism, the threshold requirements for the highest heat stress warning signal remain high,” Lam said, adding that all non-essential outdoor workers were also required to stop working regardless of their workload when a typhoon signal 9 or 10 was issued.

The number of days when heat stress triggered the highest-level warning might even be shorter than the number of days with the highest typhoon signal issued in a given year, Lam said.

“During such severe conditions [of extreme heat], allowing work suspension to cover workers of moderate workload, like street cleaners, will offer them much better protection.”