Dsd mourns loss of two dedicated workers in tragic accident
The Director of Drainage Services, Mr Ringo Mok, was deeply saddened by the passing of two workers in a work accident that happened during sewer cleaning works at Sha Tin today (April 23). The workers were certified dead after attempts at resuscitation. The Drainage Services Department (DSD) expressed deepest condolences to the deceased's families and is working with the contractor to provide immediate and appropriate assistance to the deceased's families.
The two deceased persons, aged 26 and 34, were employed by a subcontractor responsible for term maintenance and a construction contract in Sha Tin District. Four workers were carrying out sewer cleaning works at Yuen Wo Playground, Sha Tin. According to the planned work procedure, the workers would carry out high-pressure cleaning of the sewer outside the manhole without entering it. The accident occurred at about 0.00am today (April 23) when two workers were found unconscious inside the manhole. Upon an attempted rescue, they were immediately sent to Prince of Wales Hospital and were certified dead after the attempted resuscitation. The other two workers were conscious when they were sent to the hospital.
âThe DSD is investigating the cause of the incident and is rendering full assistance to the investigations by the Labour Department and the Police. The DSD always attaches great importance to construction site safety and requires contractors and subcontractors to strictly comply with relevant safety guidelines. After the accident, the DSD immediately requested the contractor and subcontractor to suspend relevant works and conduct safety inspections. All related works of the DSD have also been suspended until the DSD confirms that the contractors and their subcontractors have implemented all necessary measures to ensure work site safety.
High-level meeting with japanese officials: urgent concerns over fukushima's nuclear contaminated water discharge
The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, met the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr Takahashi Mitsuo, and the Consul-General of Japan in Hong Kong, Mr Kenichi Okada, today (May 3) upon request and discussed about the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water in Japan.
Mr Tse reiterated at the meeting that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has come to the view that there is currently no guarantee from the Japanese authorities that their purification and dilution system can operate continuously and effectively in the long term, and that the discharge will not pose any potential risks to food safety and marine ecology. Safeguarding food safety and public health in Hong Kong is the responsibility of the HKSAR Government, thus corresponding precautionary measures must be taken. The HKSAR Government will closely monitor developments of the discharge, so as to obtain more monitoring and scientific data in order to further examine the impact of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water discharge on food safety, and keep under review relevant counter measures. Should anomalies be detected, the Government does not preclude further tightening the scope of the import ban.
In response to the Japanese Government's earlier decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear PowerStation into the sea, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.For other aquatic products, sea salt, and unprocessed or processed seaweed from Japan that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will conduct comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
Besides, all vegetables, fruits, milk, milk beverages and dried milk originating from Fukushima are banned from importing into Hong Kong while such foods originating from the four prefectures nearby Fukushima, i.e. Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Gunma, are allowed to be imported on the condition that they are accompanied with a radiation certificate and an exporter certificate issued by the Japanese authority. Chilled or frozen game, meat and poultry, and poultry eggs originating from the above five prefectures are allowed to be imported on the condition that they are accompanied with a radiation certificate issued by the Japanese authority which shows the radiation levels do not exceed the guideline levels of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
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