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| Environmental, Health and Safety Report 2003 / 04
Our Vision for Sustainable Housing | Message from the Chairman | Message from the Director | Summary | Feedback Form About this Report | Business Overview & EHS Management Structure | Significant EHS Aspects | 2003 / 04 Highlights | Performance Review | Targets and Initiatives for 2004 / 05 and Beyond | Verification Statement | Annexes |
Paperless Operations Our Quality Management Unit took the initiative to install and maintain an e-filing system that was proven to be efficient, effective and environmentally friendly. Within the e-filing system, documents are scanned, indexed and stored in a database that allows staff members to easily search and retrieve documents. This saves us a lot of paper and storage space. Events such as SARS required an increase in direct communication through all levels of the Housing Authority (HA), in particular, to reaching out to our estates. As a result, we did not manage to achieve our targeted reduction in paper consumption of 11.9 reams of paper per staff member. However, the average paper use of 13 reams per staff member equals a net year-on-year reduction in total paper consumption of over 7 000 reams, or a 5% reduction year-on-year. Of the total paper used by the HA last year, approximately 46% was from recycled sources - a slight drop from 53% last year - while our paper consumption is about 6.8% of the total used by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government [5] . Environmentally Friendly Publications We publish various internal and external publications throughout the year, which result in considerable paper consumption. In order to achieve materials conservation and waste reduction, we targeted and has achieved to ensure that 100% of paper used for our publications in 2003 / 04 was environmentally friendly. The recycled content of the environmentally friendly paper that we used was as high as 50%. Office Waste Recycling [Photo: Recycling programme in the Housing Authority office.] W e implemented a number of initiatives including activities beyond our office operations, to encourage waste collection and recycling by our staff. In 2003 / 04, we collected 147 892 kg of waste paper in our offices, equivalent to 12.8 kg per staff member.
We also held a Waste Paper Collection Competition on an individual basis that yielded 3 640 kg of paper from about 90 participants. Other initiatives included the purchase and use of recycled pencils while an average of about 85% of the office printer toner cartridges used by the HA are from recycled sources, compared with 79% in the previous year. Non-smoking Work Environment Our headquarters building and all other HA office premises provide a smoke-free workplace: smoking is prohibited in all indoor areas and atrium, canteens and car parks. Our security guards also help to ensure that the ban on smoking is strictly observed by staff and visitors in the building. We fully support a no smoking workplace for better air quality and healthy environment. Office Greening We maintain various trees and other plants at our headquarter building. Planted areas create a natural setting, allowing our staff and visitors to relax and enjoy the environment. Plants not only filter pollutants from indoor air, but also release oxygen and increase relative humidity in air-conditioned offices. [Photo: The Roof Garden at the Housing Authority Headquarters.] We grow greenery in various locations at the HA Headquarters:
Occupational Risk Assessment, Controls and Education We take care to ensure that occupational health and safety risks to which our staff may be exposed in the delivery of their duties are minimized as far as possible. To achieve this objective we first conduct a risk assessment to identify potential hazards and determine the level of risk. Control measures are then identified to reduce the level of risk to a tolerable level. Finally, appropriate training is provided to ensure that relevant staff members are aware of the risks and are equipped with sufficient knowledge to implement the relevant control measures. During the year, we provided a total of 37 classes covering 18 health and safety training courses and seminars for over 1 000 staff members. The training courses ranged from Introduction to Occupational Safety and Health (Display Screen Equipment) Regulation and the Influence of Ventilation on Occupational Health for office staff, to courses suitable to our site staff such as Personal Protective Equipment and Workshop on Safety of Working at Height. Work-life Balance [Photo: The annual Housing Authority Staff Fun Fair.] In our daily lives, we may encounter different types of problems: work-related, family, interpersonal relationships or financial. To offer support, we commissioned a counselling hotline service run by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society to help staff cope with these various stresses. In 2003 / 04 the hotline handled 66 cases, with more than 60% of cases related to supervisor and subordinate relationship problems, work pressure, job insecurity and other work-related problems. Family, health and financial problems accounted for around 40% of cases. We also made a provision for face-to-face counselling and visits by experienced counsellors or clinical psychologists as required. To help deal with staff stress, we also provided stress management training to our staff. We also actively promote a good balance of work life and organise social and recreational activities for our staff. Last year we organized a number of social activities participated by over 7 100 members of staff. These included a Mid-Autumn Festival Dinner, a Putonghua Night, 45 classes on various subjects of interests like jazz dance, yoga, Tai Chi and sports competitions such as fishing, cross country running and ball games. top |
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