"In the real world, when things go wrong, people don't always get up, dust down and walk away for the next scene as they do on television. The truth is that officers get injured and in the worst case killed. No Police Officer anywhere in the world wants his or her staff to be the victims of such accidents." These were the words of Director of Management Services Mike Dowie when he gave a presentation titled "Let's be Careful Out There" at the 15th Interpol Symposium for Heads of Police Training in March this year.

Assistant Commissioner (Support) Paul Hung Hak-wai, who recently recorded his opening address for a new JPO Training Day package to be rolled out this month, pointed out: "In Hong Kong enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance in 1997 introduced criminal and civil liability for the private sector but only civil liability for government departments. What this means is that, in addition to our moral obligations, the Force, as an employer, has a statutory requirement to 'introduce safe systems of work, without risks, to ensure the safety and health of all staff in the workplace'."

This policy has been established through Civil Service Guidelines, which state:

"In Hong Kong, the Government's view on occupational health is that primary responsibility for safety & health at work rests with those who create the risks and those who work with such risks.....ultimate goal is self-regulation....purposeful creation and maintenance of specific tailor-made standards and controls commensurate with the inherent risk ...."

The JPO Training Day package is intended to introduce to junior staff the language of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and to establish the roles and responsibilities of staff within the revised Force Safety Management System.

The rollout by Training Wing of the Training Day package has been synchronised to complement the delivery of General Risk Assessor and Accident and Incident Investigation training (GRA & AII), which also commences this month. An Instructor Cadre recently completed training with the Force's external consultants to deliver this 5-day package for all confirmed Inspectors up to Chief Inspectors within the Force over the next 18 months.

Elaborating on the policy for the whole Inspectorate to receive GRA & AII training, Superintendent Rod Mason of Occupational Safety and Health Division, Support Wing, who is the OSH Project Manager, stated: "The philosophy of modern health and safety legislation across the world is to predict, so that preventive measures or rules can be implemented. This was not something that the Force was doing in the past. In general the feeling was that there are lots of hazards facing Police Officers. The best reaction was to try to avoid them."

"In the past we had no formal structure to document individual cases at the time they occurred, and no system to demonstrate what action had been taken to prevent them from happening again. Some officers believed that the best way of avoiding risk exposure was avoiding the risk itself," Mr Mason added.

Under the Inspector's training package, it is intended that up to 120 student places will be available per month and following the priority nominations for courses 1 to 4 this month and in June, places will be allocated on courses 5 to 34 to each MFC. There will be a break in training for disciplined staff between November and January 2006 to cater to manpower demands created by MC6 and winter precautions.

With two GRA & AII courses per month over an 18-month period, the interval between courses will be utilised to run Display Screen Equipment Risk Assessment (DSE RA) and Manual Handling Risk Assessment (MH RA) packages as well as tailored Accident and Incident Investigation training for those who completed GRA training with the Force Consultants, Human Applications Ltd, in 2003 and 2004.

As the project approaches its mid-point in a four-year implementation plan, the original Headquarters Orders, 6, 7 and 8, supplemented by 13 of 2004, are under review. It is intended that these will be incorporated into an electronic manual this year. Risk managers at Superintendent rank and above are required to document plans and move forward as more trained resources become available. There is no expectation of overnight change.

Training on OSH commences

Mr Mason went on to say: "OSH Legislation demands that we think about what problems might occur at the workplace, in advance, and put in place measures to ensure, as far as practicable, that the perceived problems do not come about. Risk Assessment needs to be conducted at the frontline by trained Inspectors. All tasks carried out at the workplace need to be identified, assessed and prioritised into what is significant risk. As more Inspectorate officers complete this training, the initial and sometimes overwhelming burden should be reduced and we should be able to look forward to fewer injuries to our staff as orders, procedures, training, and equipment address the likelihood of accidents taking place and reduce them."

"Safe behaviour will increase the likelihood of this change initiative being successful. It requires a review of performance pledges, which might have in the past compelled officers to abandon safe practice. It requires a revision of how the organisation rewards unsafe behaviour. It should lead to fewer surprises, a reduction in time spent 'Fighting fires' and encourage better use of limited resources.

"Morally, ethically, and financially it makes sense," Mr Mason added.

The Hong Kong Police system of OSH management is in place. The Force is in a far better position to predict what OSH risks it faces and to act to prevent undesirable outcomes. Incidents and accidents are being reviewed to reduce the potential for reoccurrence.

Mr Mason concluded: "This enormous training undertaking could not be contemplated without the voluntary commitment of the Cadre of Instructors. As we look to the future it is intended that OSH will become a core competency of each and every Inspector and be second nature to operational police managers."