Hong Kong’s revised Code of Practice for Safety and Health at Work in Confined Spaces will be effective on 30 November 2024

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The major revisions include requiring proprietors or contractors to record videos at the entrance and exit of the confined space throughout the entire work period.

Hong Kong's Labour Department (LD) published a revised Code of Practice for Safety and Health at Work in Confined Spaces (CoP) in the Gazette on 31 May 2024 (Friday).

To allow sufficient preparation time for the industry to implement all safety precautions, there will be a six-month grace period, whereafter the revised CoP will take effect on 30 November 2024.

The CoP aims to provide proprietors, contractors, competent persons and certified workers with practical guidance and technical information to comply with the requirements set out in the occupational safety and health legislation regarding confined space work for safeguarding the safety and health of workers.

The major revisions of the CoP include:

• the enhancement of requirements for proprietors' or contractors' supervision on confined space work, requiring them to adopt technology to record videos at the entrance and exit of the confined space throughout the entire work period to monitor relevant personnel's compliance with the safety precautions and to keep the record;
• highlighting the factors for assessing whether a particular job constitutes underground pipework;
• adding a detailed template of the risk assessment form and listing out the setting of an air-monitoring alarm; and
• the update on the permit-to-work certificate template.

A spokesperson for the LD said: "This CoP has a special legal status. In criminal proceedings, if a relevant person fails to observe any provision of this Code, that failure may be taken by the court as a relevant factor in determining whether or not a person has breached the relevant safety and health legislation."

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