Hong Kong's Pilot Rehabilitation Programme for Employees Injured at Work expands to new industries

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The pilot programme now covers work injuries of employees from the catering & hotel industry as well as the transportation & logistics industry that took place on or after 1 April 2024.

Apart from covering the construction industry as in the original plan, Hong Kong’s Labour Department (LD) has expanded the Pilot Rehabilitation Programme for Employees Injured at Work to the catering & hotel industry and the transportation & logistics industry, hoping to assist injured employees in these industries to recover and return to work early.

Injured employees who were engaged in the construction industry, catering & hotel industry, or transportation & logistics industry at the time of the work injury, can participate in the pilot programme if they sustained a musculoskeletal injury as a result of the work injury or contracted a musculoskeletal occupational disease prescribed under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO); and have been, or are expected to be, absent from work for six weeks or more because of the work injury.

Thus, the pilot programme now covers work injuries of employees of the catering & hotel industry and transportation & logistics industry that took place on or after 1 April 2024.

First rolled out in September 2022, the three-year pilot programme adopts a case-management approach to provide prompt and co-ordinated private outpatient rehabilitation treatment services to participating injured employees.

Funded by the Government, participants only need to pay the same fees as public hospital services for receiving private rehabilitation treatment services, including medical treatment (provided by general practitioners/family physicians, orthopaedic doctors or occupational physicians), physiotherapy, occupational therapy and imaging examination services.

The LD and the Work Injury Rehabilitation Office (WIRO) will, based on the reported work injury cases, preliminarily identify suitable injured employees and contact them to introduce the pilot programme.

Injured employees must undergo a clinical assessment by a case doctor to ascertain that their injuries are suitable for treatment under the pilot programme. Each participant will have a case manager to follow up on rehabilitation treatment and assist with return-to–work arrangements.

An LD spokesperson said expanding the pilot programme will benefit more injured employees with timely treatments. The early recovery and return-to-work of employees can also help maintain the productivity of employers.

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