HKIE Webinar– New Era of VR Technology: Application on Disaster Preparedness and Response Training in the field of Railway Industry

The HKIE webinar named “New Era of VR Technology: Application on Disaster Preparedness and Response Training in the field of Railway Industry” was held by Safety Specialist Committee (SSC) on 28^th Oct 2021. Ensuring safety becomes a growing priority in the industry. When disaster or multi-casualty incident (MCI) happens, the personnel should equip with the situational awareness to encounter the emergency.  Virtual reality (VR) technology introduces a whole new dimension to risk management by allowing company to validate decisions in an immersive 3D virtual world before implementing them.  Mr. Tim Yuen and Ms. Elaine Kwok were guest speakers. 

Firstly, Mr. Tim Yuen described Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) is a wide range of incidents both natural (e.g. floods, windstorms) and man-made (e.g. chemical spills, factory fires, buildings collapse, etc.) Then he explained the 4-C Principle Chain of Emergency Reponses and there are Command, Control, Coordination & Communication.

Then he briefed well preparation for emergencies including small scale exercises, regular exercise and drills.

After that Ms. Elaine Kwok mentioned some challenges in the incident command training including time, frequency and existing training format.

Finally, Ms. Kwok introduced using virtual reality simulation to provide exercises.  XVR Scenario concept was introduced that 3D Environment + 3D Objects + Instructor know-how & design time = XVR Scenario (To Game, Teach, Train and Assess).

The emergency response training included situational awareness, information gathering, decision making, planning, communication, command & control, logistics, as well as, review in a variety of sectors.

Lastly, she demonstrated different kinds of incidents simulation such as subway environment, subway sarin attach, construction safety and security, etc. Different modelling and techniques were discussed. She concluded a competent emergency manager should be the right person, making the right decisions, at the right time and for the right reasons.

After Q&A session, representative of SSC presented appreciation certification to guests.

Reference:

HKIE - https://www.hkie.org.hk/en/

HKIE-SSC - http://ssc.hkie.org.hk/

HKSTP Lunch & Learn – Sustainability Team

HKSTP Lunch & Learn activity was proposed by our Marketing Team and it aimed to share our knowledge inter-division/ inter-department so as to enhance our understanding what kind of job and role of our colleagues.  Sustainability Team was assigned to present on 26 Oct 2016.  Before the talk, we took a group photo.

HKSTP Seminar on Laboratory Safety & Conveyance of Hazardous Materials

The seminar on “Laboratory Safety & Conveyance of Hazardous Materials in Science Park” was organized by SHE team in HKSTP on 3 & 4 Aug 2016.  Safety is of paramount importance to HKSTP. With over 80 laboratories now in operation by Science Park partner companies, managing risks is vital to safeguard our health and well-being – not only of the laboratory operators, but of the Park community as a whole.  This free seminar covered our aspirations towards laboratory safety; best practice in the conveyance of hazardous materials and case sharing of laboratory incidents.  In the beginning, Mr. Morris Chan introduced Health and Safety role in the park.

We were honor to invite Mr. Yip Sung Tat (University Safety Office, CUHK) as our guest speaker and shared the Safety Guideline – On-site Conveyance of Hazardous Materials in the Hong Kong Science Park.  

HKSP 1st Occupational Safety and Health Conference

The 1st Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Conference was held in Hong Kong Science Park on 4th October 2010. The conference details were summarized as follows.



Mr. E. Anthony Tan (CEO, HKSTP) gave an opening speech. He emphasized that “Safety” was one of key values in Science Park.

The first speaker was Mr. MO Wing-hong (Division Occupational Safety Officer, Labour Department, HKSAR) and his topic included “General Office Safety”, “General Chemical Safety” and “Safety Management Regulation”.

In the beginning, Mr. MO briefed the occupational injury rate and dead rate from 2000 to 2009 in Hong Kong.

The most common accidents were slip, stumble, fall down, or moving object.
The following chart showed the distribution of accident in 2009.

Then the responsibilities of employer were mentioned such as:
i) Provision safety device and system
ii) Provision of information, instruction, training and supervision
iii) Provision safety workplace
On the other hand, the responsibilities of employee were also stated such as:
i) Take care themselves and others in the workplace
ii) Cooperation with employer to comply the related ordinances.

The following were two examples for participants to correct mistakes.

For general chemical safety, Mr. MO said there were three ways chemical to be contacted as “Breath”, “Eat” and “Skin contact”. Then he introduced the chemical safety label used in Hong Kong.

He pointed out the “Flammable” label used for the chemical which flash point was below 66oC in liquid form.

Then he briefed the definition of dangerous mixtures below:
· >1% toxic material (mass)
· >10% harmful material (mass)
· Any equal to corrosive, explosive, Flammable, Irritant and Oxidizing.

The safety chemical label format and criteria were demonstrated. The label must indicate the right information otherwise it violated the ordinance.

Mr. MO emphasized to establish chemical safety operation system.
i) Perform Risk Assessment
ii) Define Safety Policy for Chemical Operation
iii) Establish Safety Measures
iv) Establish Work Instruction and Operation Method

The last topic presented by Mr. MO was “Introduction of FIU Safety Management Regulation”. Some definitions and requirements were demonstrated.

· Safety Review Officer(安全查核員):
A person who is appointed to conduct a safety review

· Safety Auditor (安全審核員):
A person who conducts or proposes to conduct safety audits

· Register Safety Auditor (註冊安全審核員):
A person registered as a safety auditor

There were 14 elements in the safety management.
Part 1 (Schedule 4)
1) A safety policy which states the commitment of the proprietor or contractor to safety and health at work.
2) A structure to assure implementation of the commitment to safety and health at work.
3) Training to equip personnel with knowledge to work safely and without risk to health.
4) In-house safety rules to provide instruction for achieving safety management objectives.
5) A programme of inspection to identify hazardous conditions and for the rectification of any such conditions at regular intervals or as appropriate.
6) A programme to identify hazardous exposure or the risk or such exposure to the workers and to provide suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) as a last resort where engineering control methods are not feasible.
7) Investigation of accidents or incidents to find out the cause of any accident or incident and to develop prompt arrangements to prevent recurrence.
8) Emergency preparedness to develop, communicate and execute plans prescribing the effective management of emergency situations.

Part 2 (Schedule 4)
1) Evaluation, selection and control of sub-contractors to ensure that sub-contractors are fully aware of their safety obligations and are in fact meeting them.
2) Safety committees have the function of identifying, recommending and keeping under review safety improvement measures.

Part 3 (Schedule 4)
1) Evaluation of job related hazards or potential hazards and development of safety procedures.
2) Promotion, development and maintenance of safety and health awareness in a workplace.
3) A programme for accident control and elimination of hazards before exposing workers to any adverse work environment.
4) A programme to protect workers from occupational health hazards.


The second speaker was Mr. LO Ka-keung (Divisional Occupational Safety Officer, Labour Department, HKSAR) and his topic entitled “Renovation Safety”.

Mr. Lo briefed the accident statistic from 2000 to 2009 under construction and renovation industry.

Then he introduced the regulations related to construction especially working in high.

A special device was mentioned to avoid falling down when staff worked in high place.

If employer did not fulfill the requirement to provide safe workplace, it would be violate the regulation.

The following diagram showed the direct and indirect loss of accident.

The last speaker was Mr. Alvin Tang (Manager, Safety, Health and Environment, HKSTP) and his presentation was “OHSAS 18001:2007 Certification – The HKSTPC’s Experience”.

Similar ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001 model employed Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.

HKSTPC obtained the OHSAS 18001 in laboratories since March 2009. Then HKSTP offices also obtained it one year later.

The following diagram described the implementation of Occupation Health and Safety Management System in HKSTPC.

Mr. Tang mentioned that the incident rate was reduced after the implementation of safety plans.

At the end, Q&A session was held for exchanging safety ideas with participants.

For more information:
Occupational Safety and Health Training Centre: http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/osh/content5.htm

Risk Based Process Safety Management (PSM)

I had attended a technical seminar on the aspect of DuPont Risk Based Process Safety Management (PSM) organized by HKOSHA and co-organized by HKARMS, HKISA, SRSO and SSC on 6 November 2008 from 6:15pm to 8:00pm.

Mr. Jenny Wang (PSM Specialist, AP Engineering, DuPont China Holding Co. Ltd.) was the invited speaker to give introduction of DuPont Risk Based PSM to us.

PSM is an integrated management system to control different risks in order to prevent the catastrophic incident.

There are four key steps stated below:
1) Establishing a safety culture
2) Providing management leadership and commitment
3) Implementing a comprehensive PSM program
4) Achieving operating excellence through operational discipline