HONG KONG (SE): The Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs called on employers to be more aware of the work safety of foreign domestic workers after an Indonesian worker fell to her death while cleaning the outside of a window. The 37-year-old Indonesian worker was found lying unconscious outside Kingsford Garden on Tin Hau Temple Road, North Point, at around 10:00am on January 14. Police investigation showed she had plunged to her death while cleaning windows at the balcony of a flat on the sixth-floor. She was declared dead at the scene, according to the South China Morning Post.
Migrant rights workers also urged the government to make employers criminally liable should they breach window cleaning regulations and cause an employee’s death.
Migrant rights workers also urged the government to make employers criminally liable should they breach window cleaning regulations and cause an employee’s death.
Starting from 1 January 2017, the standard employment contract for foreign domestic helpers included restrictions on cleaning the exterior parts of windows. However, the rules do not seem to be able to prevent the tragedies from occuring.
Law Pui-shan, policy research officer with the commission, said that while ignoring the safety rules of window cleaning is not a criminal offence in Hong Kong, under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, an employer is still criminally liable if the environmental evidence, such as a large window without grills, shows that they failed to provide a safe working envirionment.
She believes foreign domestic workers have weak bargaining power in the workplace so they are unlikely to say no if employers ask them to clean the window. So education for employers about workplace safety should be strengthened.
She said it is time for the Hong Kong government to look at how the government in Singapore helps develop a positive working environment for workers by arranging compulsory orientation seminars for both employers and foreign domestic workers to raise awareness of their rights and responsibilities, as well as compulsory interviews at an employer’s home to check if proper accommodation is provided and if there is any potential danger in the workplace.
A clause on window cleaning in the standard employment contract stipulates that, when an employer requires the helper to clean the outside of any window which is not located on the ground level or adjacent to a balcony or common corridor, this must be performed when the window being cleaned is fitted with a grille that is locked or secured in a manner that prevents it from being opened and no part of the helper’s body extends beyond the window ledge except the arms.
The clause makes it possible for foreign domestic workers to turn down a request to clean the window or complain to the Labour Department. They can also seek compensation from an employer through making civil claims.
Sring Atin, a spokesperson for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, said the recent death exposed the fundamental weakness of such rules in the contract.
She said employers who are known to have breached window cleaning rules and caused injuries or deaths are, at present, only punished with a record of contract violation affecting their next application for a foreign domestic helper—not enough to deter them from asking workers to perform the dangerous duty. The group said employers should be criminally liable if they breach the conditions of the employment contract and cause injuries or even deaths.
She believes some workers tend to take risks while cleaning the window to satisfy the high demand of their employers. She called for more education for households hiring domestic workers and more warnings for employers about the dangers of window cleaning.
