We have Safety Management Systems (“SMS”) in place to maintain a safe and healthy work environment and minimise any adverse health and safety impacts arising from our operations.
In Hong Kong, the SMS Steering Committee is chaired by our Fire and Safety Manager and our SMS sub-committees, which meet periodically to monitor and evaluate the safety performance of the Company’s Hong Kong operations. In Mainland China, the Safety Working Group is chaired by the Director of Technical Services and Sustainable Development and our SMS sub-committees in Mainland China, which hold regular meetings to monitor and evaluate the Company’s safety performance in Mainland China. Our SMS sub-committees in Hong Kong and Mainland China include employee representatives from our technical and building management teams in each portfolio.
In accordance with the SMS, all our employees are required to report any workplace hazards to their supervisors immediately. We regularly conduct inspections to identify potential workplace hazards and assess risks. Follow-up actions are then carried out to prevent accidents and maintain safe workplace conditions in our buildings, equipment and facilities. The results of our inspections are reported to the SMS Steering Committee and we monitor the progress of any follow-up actions.
We have also implemented accident investigation programmes to identify the causes of accidents so that we can adopt preventive measures to avoid reoccurrence. Managers of our business units at a supervisory level or above issue accident reports once formal investigations are completed.
As at 31st December 2019, the SMS in six of our properties in Hong Kong comply with the new and more stringent ISO 45001:2018 standard, while four properties in Mainland China comply with the internationally-applied British Standard OHSAS 18001:2007.
We intend to upgrade our OHSAS 18001:2007 properties to the ISO 45001:2018 standard. This year, the four properties in Mainland China began preparing documents required by the ISO 45001:2018 standard, and completion of the migration is expected in 2020.