Our Role and Services Housing Stock and Production Environmental, Health and Safety Policy Environmental, Health and Safety Governance and Management
	Our Role and Services At the Housing Authority (HA), our role is to cater to Hong Kong's public housing needs. As of end of March 2004, 50% of the total population was living in public housing (i.e., including the HA's and the Housing Society's rental and subsidized sale flats). To satisfy our role, we formulate housing development strategy and oversee strategic planning for public housing. According to the strategy, we plan, develop and implement the Public Housing Construction Programme and various subsidized, loan and rental allowance schemes. We also oversee the management and maintenance of public rental estates and associated amenities such as shopping centres, car parking and recreational facilities within our estates.
	Housing Stock and Production As of end of March, there was a stock of 2 372 000 permanent residential flats in Hong Kong. Of these 1 086 000 flats were the public housing stock, with 95% of these under the management of the HA. We also own 1.07 million square metres of internal floor area of retail premises and operate 100 700 car park spaces. In 2003 / 04, we produced about 20 000 flats. Private housing production based on the data from Rating and Valuation Department was some 26 400 flats in 2003.
	Environmental, Health and Safety Policy In meeting the public housing needs in Hong Kong, we strive to prevent and minimize impacts on the environment and safeguard the health and safety of our residents, business partners, employees and other relevant parties. To achieve this, we have established Environmental Policy and Safety Policy, and have adopted corresponding targets in our procurement process. These policies provide us with clear directions of fully integrating a culture of environmental, health and safety (EHS) into our operations. Environmental Policy   To promote healthy living and a green environment;   To develop a strategic framework and implement environmental management for the promotion of sustainable development;   To strictly comply with and fully implement all relevant environmental legislation and regulations;   To address environmental concerns and incorporate environmental initiatives in planning and design, construction and demolition, marketing and estate management activities;   To minimize environmental impacts (air, dust, noise, waste and water) to residents and public from our operations;   To develop procurement policies to minimize the use of resources and achieve cost effectiveness;   To promote environmental awareness and participation among staff, residents and contractors through education and publicity programmes; and   To review and seek continual improvement on the implementation of an environmental management system. Safety Policy   To provide information on safety and health criteria in building HA projects for contractors, the public and other key stakeholders;   To make safety and health performance one of the critical considerations in tender selection for all new and existing building projects;   To build up safety profile of contractors for continuous assessment of safety performance;   To monitor contractor safety performance by the independent and in-house assessment;   To work through partnership by incorporation of the contractor's input in respect of safe construction technology and equipment; and   To promote safety and health issues particularly related to HA projects to enhance the safety and health of persons involved.
	Environmental, Health and Safety Governance and Management Meeting high standards of operational and EHS performance requires a dynamic, transparent and accountable governance structure and effective communication channels. A number of the HA's Standing Committees advise the Authority on relevant policies including EHS matters to ensure reliable services are provided and quality is maintained. Policies issues on environmental and safety issues related to building construction and estate management are handled by the HA's Building Committee and Subsidized Housing Committee respectively. At the departmental level, various functional committees, task forces, and management units that are responsible for implementing our policies issues relevant to EHS will provide support to our Standing Committees. In addition, the overall environmental management is led by the Housing Department Environmental Committee, which is supported by Division Environmental Committees and various specialist groups. We also implement an independent checking and audit system to evaluate our internal control systems, make regular checks against the Building Ordinance and conduct final inspections on our building projects to ensure a high quality product. Our approach to managing our EHS matters is systematic, robust and effective. We adopt management principles to:   Identify EHS aspects associated with our operations and evaluate their significance;   Identify appropriate control measures for preventing and minimizing impacts based on the level of significance;   Review the effectiveness of control measures; and   Identify and implement appropriate improvement actions. Our ultimate goal is to achieve continual improvements in all areas. We believe success of a management system relies not only on management commitment, but also on effective communication and partnering with all stakeholders. We maintain both internal and external communication channels to ensure that concerns of our stakeholders are effectively communicated. Various incentive and sanction schemes and partnering initiatives are in place to encourage our business partners to improve their EHS performance. We also place high priority on the professional and personal development of our staff. We identify and provide suitable training to enhance their skills and knowledge and to improve our own EHS performance.

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