Raising Public Awareness     EMSD’s Customer Liaison Group comprises members of the public and various trades who give feedback and suggestions to help improve our Regulatory Services.       Our public education and awareness-building activities aim to shape the behaviour of the regulated trades and the general public, helping them comply with the law and work and live in a safe and energy efficient manner. We interact with our target groups through a variety of channels and messages in order to maximise the impact of our communication initiatives.       Media Gathering       The media are a key channel of information between Regulatory Services and the general public. It is vital that we establish a positive working relationship with the media and maintain a high level of transparency in our work as we strive to continuously improve our services. As a symbolic re-launch of our work, we invited representatives of key Hong Kong media to join us at an informal gathering at our headquarters in August 2011. This provided an opportunity for our senior management, including Division heads, to share highlights of our work and future direction with journalists and to hear first-hand how members of the media view a variety of issues. More than 20 editors and journalists attended.       E&M Young Ambassadors       The E&M Young Ambassador Programme made good progress during 2011, attracting new members and offering new activities. Our Young Ambassadors were among many youths who attended the 2011 Engineering Week carnival, held in March at the Macpherson Playground in Mongkok. The culmination of a week-long series of activities jointly organised by Hong Kong’s professional engineering organisations, local universities and EMSD, the carnival presented fun games and exhibits to highlight the contribution of the engineering profession to Hong Kong and to promote it to young people. Other activities were also held during the year, both to promote E&M safety and energy efficiency knowledge and to recruit youngsters as E&M ambassadors. An online quiz proved popular, with prizes such as EMSD’s E&M Safety and Energy Efficiency Liberal Studies Teaching Kits. We will continue to enrich the Young Ambassador Programme in the coming year so that more youngsters can help to spread the word about E&M safety and energy efficiency.       Liberal Studies Teaching Kit       To support the new senior secondary curriculum and promote E&M safety and energy efficiency knowledge, EMSD published an E&M Safety and Energy Efficiency Liberal Studies Teaching Kit in 2011 and distributed it to secondary schools in Hong Kong. The Teaching Kit comprises four bilingual booklets covering electrical and mechanical safety, energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy efficient buildings. Materials are presented in a user-friendly manner to help teachers and students approach the subject with confidence.       The five-member e-family cartoon characters introduce good electrical safety practices in everyday life.         e-Family Promotes Electrical Safety       In addition to launching a dedicated YouTube video channel, where the public and the trade may easily access our electrica lsafety and training videos, we also introduced a family of cartoon characters during the year. This “e-Family” providesa focus around which our electrical safety materials for the general public will evolve. The “e-Family” has five members: mummy, daddy, On On the daughter, Chuen Chuen the son, and grandma. Through their interactions, the characters illustrate electrical safety concepts and introduce good practices for everyday life.       Gas Riser Safety Promotion       Corrosion of gas risers has been one of the major causes of gas incidents in Hong Kong. We have therefore adopted a strategic approach to promoting gas riser safety. While gas supply companies have committed to conducting a safety inspection for each domestic household every 18 months, a comprehensive riser safety publicity programme was held during the year to encourage householders to allow gas supply companies to conduct regular safety inspections inside their units and, if irregularities are found, to engage a registered gas contractor to rectify the irregularities in a timely manner. The programme comprises dissemination of gas safety messages through leaflets, posters, gas bill envelopes, talks, the EMSD website and visits to housing estates.   E&M Young Ambassadors gather for a safety and energy efficiency briefing.       We have also required the gas supply company concerned to step up the frequency of regular safety inspections to once every 12 months for high-risk buildings, such as those with a record of serious riser corrosion.       Our Lifts Modernisation programme is supported by the Guidelines for Modernising Existing Lifts booklet and seminars for lift owners and property management companies. One of the new exhibits in the EMSD headquarters Education Path and Exhibition Gallery, popular with students and delegations.       Lift Modernisation for the Public Sector       To encourage lift owners and property management companies to step up efforts to modernise aging lifts, we delivered seven talks on the topic to the private sector during 2011, reaching some 1,100 individuals. We have also urged our partners within all government bureaux and departments to implement lift modernisation measures in public buildings and facilities so as to set a good example for the community. Of equal importance are efforts to raise public awareness of the need to include building rehabilitation, such as lift modernisation, in regular building maintenance. The concept of integrated building maintenance, with lift maintenance as one of several essential tasks, is a popular notion in Europe and its introduction to Hong Kong will help raise the level of lift safety in our community.       APEC Electric Vehicles Workshop and Exhibition       EMSD plays a role in promoting the wider use of electric vehicles (EVs) in Hong Kong, in particular by expediting the development of a territory-wide EV charging infrastructure. In October 2011, we supported the APEC Workshop on Energy and Green Transport Benefits of Electric Vehicles at the Hong Kong Science Park. This event was well attended by APEC delegates, who enthusiastically deliberated on the merits and challenges of the development of EVs. With the Environment Bureau, we also organised an exhibition entitled Electric Vehicles – Driving Toward a Greener Hong Kong, which was held alongside the workshop. Open to the public, it showcased electric passenger vehicles, vans, trucks, buses, motorcycles and scooters from major manufacturers, together with the latest charging facilities from power companies and charging facility suppliers. The exhibition was a good opportunity for the Hong Kong public to take a close look at EVs and learn more about their environmental benefits.       Railway Safety Online Games       The railway safety section of the EMSD website was enriched in 2011 with the inclusion of a booklet on safe MTR travel produced by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL). The downloadable booklet includes tips on the safe use of entry/exit gates, railway platforms, escalators, moving walkways and lifts. A series of interactive online games was also posted on our website to reinforce safe behaviour on the platform, escalator and train. EMSD also co-organised with MTRCL a train door safety campaign with colourful posters and stickers on train doors, automatic platform gates and platform screen doors to remind passengers to stop at the sound of the door chimes. The posters and stickers highlighted the key train door safety tip, “Stop when you hear the door chimes! You can make it a safe journey!”       New interactive exhibits in our Education Path and Exhibition Gallery, on energy codes and photovoltaic panels respectively.         BEEO Publicity for Trade Begins       Though implementation of the core provisions of the Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance (BEEO) will not begin until September 2012, we have already begun communicating with the trades to build awareness of BEEO and help them prepare to comply with the law. Numerous talks and seminars were held during 2011 to engage property management agents and members of related professional bodies and to familiarise them with the statutory requirements. The trades were also consulted on the technical standards of the two Codes of Practice under BEEO, namely the Building Energy Code and the Energy Audit Code, which will be gazetted in 2012.   Another new exhibit that illustrates different photovoltaic panels.   At the same time, trade and community publicity on phases one and two of the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme continued throughout the year. Activities included public service announcements on TV and radio, retail store visits and hundreds of outreach talks cum exhibitions at schools throughout Hong Kong, in addition to frequent participation in community events and carnivals.       Trade Survey 2011       Further to the trade survey completed in 2008, a survey was conducted in 2011 to gauge the effectiveness and quality of the processes through which Regulatory Services interfaces with the regulated trades. Survey results have provided useful reference data and suggested improvements to our services and communication procedures.