New changes to Occupational Safety and Health Legislation in Hong Kong now in effect

At a glance

• The Hong Kong legislative Council recently passed the Occupational Safety and Occupational Health Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2022 (the Amendment Bill) on 19 April 2023.
• This Bill came into effect on 28 April 2023.

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Key amendments

Employers general duty provisions in the occupational safety and health legislations (OSH legislation) have been amended

For extremely serious cases, the employer's general duty provisions in the OSH legislations have been amended so that the Labour Department can now take out prosecutions by invoking the provisions as indictable offences and bring them to a higher-level court for trial. The maximum penalties for indictable offences are set at HKD10 million for fines and two years for imprisonment. New provisions also require the courts to take into account the convicted company’s turnover, financial record, or scale of operation to impose a fine that is sufficiently deterrent.

Fine for summary offences has increased

For summary offences, the maximum fine for the employer's general duty provisions have been increased to HKD 3 million and that for the employee's general duty provisions has increased to HKD 150,000. 

Maximum fines for "very serious", "serious" and "minor" offences have been adjusted

• Minor offences – from HKD 10,000 to HKD 25,000 (employer) / HKD 10,000 (employee);
• Serious offences – from HKD 50,000 to HKD 100,000 (employer) / HKD 50,000 (employee); and
• Very serious offences – from HKD 200,000 to HKD 400,000 (employer) / HKD 150,000 (employee).

Maximum fines for other provisions

The maximum fines for other provisions that are not suitable for the seriousness categorisation have been increased by 1.5x for employee-related provisions and 2x for non-employee-related provisions.

Time limit for issuing summonses increased

The time limit for issuing summonses where prosecutions are taken out as summary offences has been increased from six months to nine months.

Key takeaway

The amendments increase the penalties under OSH legislation for the first time in almost 20 years. While the effect of the increase in penalties will unlikely be seen immediately, it is hoped that this will further enhance occupational safety and health performance in Hong Kong in the long run.