OPERATIONS REVIEW - REGULATORY SERVICES

STRIVING FOR “ZERO ACCIDENTS” BY PREVENTION

Prevention is one of the most effective means of achieving the ultimate goal of fostering an incident-free city. The fact that much of our work goes unnoticed as we implement the strategy of prevention.

In order to safeguard E&M safety in the city, we have to enhance our risk sensitivity and take preventive measures to minimise potential risks and pre-empt any incident. With a strong belief in prevention, we always plan and worry ahead of the people and have implemented a range of initiatives. For instance, to enhance gas safety, we completed a comprehensive health analysis of aboveground gas pipes to identify the underlying factors that might affect their health condition, and developed a predictive model for sorting the gas pipes by risk level and formulating preventive maintenance strategy for gas pipes in buildings territory-wide.

We also promoted centralised LPG supply systems to developers and LPG users living in village houses to eliminate the potential risk arising from excessive storage of reserve cylinders of village house households, despite the absence of any recorded incidents involving LPG cylinders at village houses. Furthermore, based on the positive outcomes of the quick checks conducted for the gas installations of more than 600 restaurants thus far, we extended the service to more restaurants and also to laundry shops that use clothes dryers fuelled by LPG cylinders.

Our proactive approach is demonstrated through various infrastructure projects, including the upgrading of the Peak Tram and the opening of the Cross-Harbour Extension of the East Rail Line. The Peak Tram is a historical landmark in Hong Kong. This upgrading project is a comprehensive upgrade of the Peak Tram, including the replacement of power system, control and signalling systems, cables, tracks, and the refurbishment of central and peak stations. Some advanced systems such as large-scale variable frequency motor control equipment, haulage operation monitoring system, etc. were also introduced. During the process, we closely monitored the replacement status and conducted various statutory safety inspections, so as to ensure that all “safe-and-sound” requirements were met. To monitor the health condition of cables, we were conducting the world's first pilot trial project at the Peak Tram for real-time monitoring of the hauling ropes by using artificial intelligence Visual-Magnetic Combined inspection technology.

As the gatekeeper of E&M safety for the city, we take responsibility for ensuring that all recommendations for safer practices are duly implemented by E&M stakeholders, zeroing in on potential weak links. Our achievements, stemming from our adoption of prevention strategy, are encouraging. Some of our pioneering best practices are now referenced by our counterparts. Overall E&M incident rates in the territory have generally been kept on a downward trend.

We are unwavering in pursuing our goal of “zero accidents”. By rallying the entire department to come up with innovative proposals for extending the culture of prevention through our Staff Motivation Scheme, the concept of “prevention is always better than cure” will be deeply ingrained in the entire EMSD establishment.

STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE AND REGULATION THROUGH DIGITALISATION

As a pioneer of innovation and technology (I&T), we are keen to go beyond limits by enhancing our digital capabilities and streamlining our services. We have also been spearheading digital transformation and promoting innovation to encourage technological adoption in the E&M trade.

Having made a head-start in electronic services, we have extended digitalisation across the board, such as enabling one-stop online registration application services for all stakeholders of the electrical trade, and connecting the e-services to the online training platform for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to facilitate registration renewal of registered electrical workers, so as to enhance efficiency and convenience in the regulatory services. The same one-stop services have been introduced to registered vehicle mechanics (RVMs), with the VM Learning Station launched in May 2022 for RVMs to complete the required CPD training for fulfilling the requirements of registration renewal under the Voluntary Registration Scheme for Vehicle Mechanics. In the coming years, we will step up efforts to promote and encourage the trade on making the most of them.

In addition to registration and licensing services, our regulatory work is also gradually heading towards digitalisation. In November 2022, we rolled out the Digital Log-books for Lifts and Escalators, which is a cutting-edge solution that enables responsible persons for lifts and escalators, the trade and the Government to record, view and analyse real-time data. As at September 2023, over 20000 lifts and escalators, or one-fourth of the installations, in Hong Kong have adopted this blockchain technology based platform in pursuit of better management and safety standard of lifts and escalators.

Another game changer is the artificial intelligence (AI) system for detecting non-compliant household electrical and gas appliances sold on local e-commerce platforms. The first-ever online sweep of local e-commerce platforms conducted within the year has proved that the system contributed to a timelier and more thorough review of the products sold on these platforms.

As the regulator, we have gone the extra mile by pioneering various I&T projects to show regulatees how operational safety can be improved via smart technology, and incentivising the regulatees to use I&T tools more extensively to elevate their safety performance, with a view to setting a good example to encourage businesses and manufacturers in the E&M trade to pursue more projects that capture the potential of I&T to enhance safety in their respective fields.

In 2022, we established an I&T sharing and transfer mechanism for exchanging and sharing knowledge on I&T advances, technical details and designs with our regulatees, to encourage them to involve more actively in I&T development. Upon completion of on-site proof of concept trials of I&T projects led by the EMSD, technical information will be shared with the regulatees to enable them to further the system development work on top of the established foundation. During the year, some of the pilot projects that were shared this way included the Smart Driver Assistant for Automated People Mover, the Semantic AI for Predictive Maintenance of Railway Track Systems and the Passenger Misbehaviour Detection System.

Such strategy is bearing more and more fruit. In recent years, not only have the innovative solutions developed by the EMSD garnered awards in major local and international award programmes, but they also sparked a keen interest among our regulatees in adopting them or developing their own, which contributed towards building a safer and greener city.

FORGING CLOSER COLLABORATION WITH MAINLAND AND REGIONAL COUNTERPARTS

Moreover, we continue to play to our unique strength as a “super connector” between the Mainland and the world in all E&M fields, leveraging our close ties with the Mainland, regional and international partners to drive innovation, thereby further enhancing E&M safety and energy efficiency through every means.

During the epidemic, the EMSD maintained communication and collaboration with its Mainland and overseas counterparts through online means. Upon the end of the epidemic and full resumption of cross-boundary activities, EMSD immediately resumed in-person exchanges with the counterparts concerned, expediting collaboration with all parties.

In early 2023, we received a high-level delegation led by the Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC). On the occasion, the GACC and the EMSD also formally signed for the renewal of the Cooperation Arrangement on Electrical and Mechanical Products Safety and Energy Efficiency, which has been in place for 20 years, to further enhance the safety of E&M products and facilitate the achievement of carbon neutrality of the two places. The Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link resumed operation earlier this year and is currently the only railway connecting major cities in mainland China. The demand for this service continues to increase, with peak daily passenger numbers exceeding 100,000. We maintain close communication and cooperation with the National Railway Administration, conducting regular work meetings. In March of this year, we, together with the National Railway Administration, conducted an inspection of the Guangzhou and the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link facilities. Additionally, in June, our representatives accompanied the Director-General of the National Railway Administration on a visit to countries along the Belt and Road in Europe, engaging in discussions and sharing insights with local railway regulatory authorities on high-speed rail development and the Hong Kong experience.

Upon the resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland in early 2023, the EMSD formed delegations to visit the facilities of our Mainland counterparts and gained valuable insights for facilitating the local development of the relevant projects. To name a few examples, the visits to Beijing and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) gave us a better understanding of the development, safety management and third-party certification of hydrogen infrastructure and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The visit to a state-owned company operating district cooling systems (DCSs) in Qianhai, Shenzhen in mid-2023 also enabled us to exchange views with trade practitioners on the design, implementation and operation of DCSs under various constraints, providing important references for the construction of a large-scale DCS in the Northern Metropolis Development in the future.

With solid online channels established during the epidemic, we have continued to adopt a hybrid communication mode after the end of the epidemic, with a view to strengthening the Hong Kong-Mainland partnership through a two-pronged approach. We have maintained close communication with the State Administration for Market Regulation and its subsidiary Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation to explore collaboration in monitoring, reporting and recalling unsafe electrical products. We are also collaborating with the China National Institute of Standardisation to prepare a Memorandum of Cooperation for establishing an information exchange mechanism concerning the energy efficiency labelling schemes in both Hong Kong and the Mainland, which can help streamline the process for the local trade to comply with the requirements of the energy efficiency labelling schemes in both regions.

During the year, we continued to deepen our I&T collaboration with relevant Mainland departments. In collaboration with the Guangdong Academy of Sciences, we have successfully designed and fabricated the Intelligent Tank Robot for inspecting and analysing the condition of the tanks of LPG road tankers. Enhancing greatly the safety and efficiency of tank inspection, the project achieved encouraging results with a Silver Medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva 2023. Besides, we facilitated the collaboration between the Hongkong Electric Company Limited and the Guangdong Academy of Sciences to utilise a drone to check for any signs of gas leakage in the subsea pipeline connecting the Guangdong Dapeng Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal and Lamma Power Station of Hong Kong.

The EMSD's influence in the E&M and Energy Efficiency and Conservation fields continues to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. Being one of the first government departments to take on leadership roles in key Asia-Pacific regional organisations, the EMSD is honoured to have two senior officials assuming leadership positions in the Energy Working Group and the Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) respectively. Besides, we actively host APEC expert group meetings and have successfully obtained APEC funding to conduct projects, including hosting various workshops in the name of APEC. In 2023, the EMSD expanded its cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). For the first time, we successfully obtained ASEAN funding to conduct economic and technical cooperation projects under the Free Trade Agreement between Hong Kong and ASEAN, and are tentatively planning to host a workshop on retro-commissioning in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2024. We will invite experts and government officials from the ten ASEAN member states to participate in the workshop to exchange knowledge and explore collaboration opportunities. We believe that our leadership experience in Asia-Pacific regional organisations will serve as a role model for other counterparts in Hong Kong, and we will make the best endeavours to tell the good stories of Hong Kong in the international arena.

CONTRIBUTING TO CARBON NEUTRALITY

Having regard to the clear roadmap outlined in Hong Kong's Climate Action Plan 2050 to strive for carbon neutrality before 2050, the EMSD has put our own initiatives into action and supported the implementation of many key objectives in the plan.

Formulating the roadmap for developing hydrogen as fuel is one of our key initiatives to promote green energy. In this regard, apart from paving the way for legislation, the Regulatory Services has provided continuous support for technical and risk assessment issues. Meanwhile, we are devoted to establishing safety guidelines for hydrogen vehicle fuel system and hydrogen filling stations, as well as the Guidance Note on Quantitative Risk Assessment methodology of Hydrogen Filling Stations, in order to ensure the safe use of hydrogen fuel.

In addition, our initiatives for striving towards carbon neutrality span multiple levels, including monitoring the construction of the new Offshore LNG Terminal for diversifying gas supply to power stations, advising the Government on the safe exploration and trial of hydrogen fuel projects, developing and operating DCSs for large-scale production of environmentally friendly cooling energy, optimising energy efficiency of buildings, continuously enhancing the energy performance of electrical and gas appliances through the Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme, facilitating the wider adoption of renewable energy, as well as encouraging building owners to improve energy efficiency through the newly launched “Online Building Based Electricity Utilization Index Benchmarking Tool”.

To make energy conservation top of mind for the general public, we have developed STEAM educational kits for primary and secondary schools based on our Solar Harvest scheme, to instil environmental awareness into students at a young age.

Furthermore, we launched the “Green Schools 2.0 – Energy Smart” and “Green Welfare NGOs” schemes in 2020/21 and 2022/23 respectively, subsidising 300 eligible schools and 300 NGO premises to carry out energy-saving projects. In order to further enhance the energy performance of the premises concerned and cultivate students' awareness about energy conservation, a real-time energy monitoring system was also installed at each eligible school to help students identify energy management opportunities and implement green housekeeping measures.

While the pace of rolling out and evolving eco-friendly strategies, regulatory measures, green energy facilities and energy efficiency programmes has been accelerating, the cycle of reviewing the Building Energy Code and the Energy Audit Code related to the Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance (BEEO) every three years is more frequent than other CoPs, in order to keep up with the rapid development in the energy-efficiency landscape. Moreover, the time is ripe for updating the BEEO, which has been in force for over 10 years. Our ultimate goal is to gradually raise energy efficiency standards, thereby guiding building owners and relevant trades to achieve higher energy conservation goals for striving towards carbon neutrality.

CREATING E&M TALENT PIPELINES

As the scale of the E&M trade has been expanding in tandem with the growth of Hong Kong, the EMSD has been pulling out all the stops to create pipelines of young talent for the E&M sector.

Manpower demand in the E&M sector is ever increasing. In particular, new development areas such as the proposed Northern Metropolis will require massive networks of DCSs to support energy-saving air-conditioning for public and commercial facilities. Lifts and escalators in new buildings and premises also need more manpower for maintenance work. Moreover, the rising popularity of electric vehicles will lead to increase in demand for mechanics to maintain these technologically advanced vehicles and charging infrastructure. Meanwhile, the E&M trade is inevitably ageing. While we are pleased to observe that the proportion of newcomers aged below 30 to the E&M sector has increased in recent years, we must ensure that the E&M sector remains attractive to young people in the midst of keen competition for talent from other sectors.

Our efforts to bring new blood into the E&M trade expedited during the year. We have assisted in launching diversified qualification framework to create progression pathways for various E&M fields, notably new qualification programmes for the lift/escalator field and acceptance of the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (HKQF) Level 3 qualifications, through application of the Recognition of Prior Recognition (RPL) mechanism, as the recognised qualifications for registration under the Voluntary Registration Scheme for Vehicle Mechanics.

More youth engagement programmes and STEAM education support have also been introduced to stimulate young people's interest in pursuing a career in the E&M sector and environmental fields such as renewable energy and DCSs.

The EMSD also launched a pilot STEM education programme, “Witty Bear Campus Tour – EMbrace Smart Living in Daily Life”, in which students can get an insider experience of the EMSD's work in promoting smart living and an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the career prospects of the E&M trade. Through the three-stage programme, students received the latest information from engineers and technicians of the EMSD on the latest development of the E&M trade, I&T applications and energy efficiency; made a prototype of an innovative E&M tool on their own, which can be applied at home, at school or in the community; and visited the EMSD headquarters to get a head-start for pursuing an E&M career.

Besides, our efforts to accelerate the application of innovative tools in the E&M trade not only help reduce monotonous tasks and relieve manpower pressure, but also inject cutting-edge innovative technologies into E&M jobs, making them an appealing career choice for young people.

SUMMING UP

In recent years, “3H”, i.e. high public expectation, high technology and high manpower pressure in the E&M trade, have become our major challenges. In spite of these challenges and the epidemic, the Regulatory Services has achieved notable successes in enhancing safety and quality of the trade, promoting energy efficiency and striving for carbon neutrality with green energy. We have honoured our commitment to providing reliable E&M services as well as promoting energy efficiency to the community.

With the backing of all our staff and other government departments, the EMSD has overcome numerous obstacles and become stronger in the face of difficulties. We are grateful for their excellent efforts. As always, we also thank our regulatees, trade partners, academia, professional bodies, NGOs, training institutions and the public for their whole-hearted support.

In the coming year, we will devote ourselves to preventing incidents and striving towards carbon neutrality by continuously developing innovative technologies and strengthening our collaboration with the trade and the GBA counterparts. We will play an active role in promoting E&M safety and energy efficiency to the young generations, as well as bringing more new blood to the E&M trade for passing on our fine tradition and wisdom. We look forward to another year of great progress to build a better future for Hong Kong.