Cigarette butts ‘strong evidence’ of smoking ban breach at work sites: Chris Sun

Labour chief reveals further details of proposed ban and lays out other priorities, including injury compensation mechanism for online delivery workers Cigarette butts will be considered “strong evidence” of a possible breach under a proposed construction site smoking ban, Hong Kong’s labour chief has said, even as he sought to reassure contractors that preventive measures could shield them from the maximum HK$400,000 (US$51,070) fine. It also emerged at the inquiry that no prosecutions were initiated despite 17 checks at the estate undergoing renovation, as Labour Department inspectors were unable to catch smokers in the act or trace the origins of the cigarette butts found there. Sun also outlined his remaining priorities for the final year of the current term, including the introduction of a statutory injury compensation mechanism for online platform delivery workers and reforms to a manpower retraining body to address the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). Touching on his proposed ban on smoking at construction sites, he said: “For any contractor, if there are a lot of cigarette butts at the time of inspection, that by itself is going to be very strong evidence for us to take further action.

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