Trade Communication,
Education and Cooperation
EMSD has made trade communications an area of focus this year, since we believe that regulation alone is insufficient to ensure full compliance with safety standards.

While EMSD has introduced new provisions mandating safety standards for electrical products, for instance, there is still much to be done to ensure these standards are met. To enhance understanding and garner support from the trade, we have regularly organised seminars and talks for importers, agents, distributors, wholesalers and retailers, not to mention numerous shop visits.

We recently launched a newsletter Electricity News to establish a regular communications channel with people in the trade. It serves to refresh their knowledge and provides an update of relevant technologies, standards and regulations. Electricity News is distributed to all registered electrical workers in Hong Kong. We believe that the ultimate beneficiaries of all these initiatives will be members of the public as a higher safety standard is upheld.

Public Education
Alongside trade communications, EMSD has also initiated a series of educational programmes to heighten public awareness of the issue of electrical product safety. These included advertising on outdoor billboards, and in MTR and KCR stations.

Another initiative is a new guidebook on electrical safety designed for households. It has just been published and is now available for free distribution at District Offices.

Databases and Information Systems Upgraded
In support of the ESD programme to enhance e-government in Hong Kong, we have upgraded our information systems and databases. This facilitates electronic form submission via the Internet and offers greater flexibility to users and relevant parties in the trade. The database upgrade allows quicker access and retrieval of data, thereby speeding up the entire workflow and improving the efficiency of the day-to-day operation of the department.

Advertising in MTR stations helps to heighten public awareness of the issue of electrical product safety.

Facts & Figures
EMSD maintains and administers registers of qualified electrical workers and contractors, and monitors their performance in line with safety standards as required by the Electricity Ordinance. Only those who have registered with EMSD are allowed to carry out electrical work on fixed electrical installations. Moreover, the certificate of registration must be renewed every three years. Renewal registration reached its peak in 2001 when we processed over 26,000 applications, 9 times that for 2000.

Site inspections are key to ensuring the safety of fixed electrical installations. In 2001, more than 9,600 inspections were conducted and 6,868 testing certificates were endorsed.