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1. Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme well received

2. A nation's hour of humanity revived

1. Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme well received
Hong Kong Government, 16 March 2003

A total of 96 construction sites, sub-contractors, safety teams and workers were commended for their outstanding performance in occupational health and safety today (March 16).

Addressing the presentation ceremony for the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme, the Commissioner for Labour, Mrs Pamela Tan Kam Mi-wah, said the scheme was a success with

active participation from the industry.

A total of 85 construction sites, 37 sub-contractors and 47 safety teams joined the well-received scheme this year.

"The construction industry, a major industry in Hong Kong, has made great contributions to our economic development. However, it has more work accidents than other industries.

"We attach great importance to occupational health and safety in the industry. We have invested a lot of manpower resources in enforcement, education and promotion to reduce work accidents," Mrs Tan said.

"These have to be complemented by publicity and good safety management in establishments if we wish to further enhance safety awareness and performance in the industry. We will maintain a close partnership with the industry, professional bodies, employer associations and trade unions to maximise the publicity effect," she said.

Mrs Tan noted that the safety performance of the industry had been improving in recent years with declining accident figures. In the first three quarters of 2002, the number of accidents was 4,889, representing a drop of 32.3 per cent compared with 7,226 in the same period in 2001. The accident rate per thousand workers also decreased significantly by 26.9 per cent, from 118.2 in the first three quarters of 2001 to 86.3 in the same period in 2002.

"The continual improvement is the result of years of concerted efforts by employers, employees, employer associations, trade unions, safety practitioners, relevant organisations and the Government. I hope the partnership will continue to improve the health and safety of the working environment."

The Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme was jointly organised by the Environmental, Transport and Works Bureau, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, the Occupational Safety and Health Council, the Construction Industry Training Authority, the Occupational Deafness Compensation Board, the Hong Kong Construction Association, the Hong Kong General Building Contractors Association and the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union.

All construction sites in Hong Kong were invited to compete for the award provided that they had not received any Suspension Notices from the department or recorded any serious or fatal accidents in the 12 months before the enrolment deadline.

Entries for the site-based awards were divided into five categories, namely Building Sites (Public Sector), Building Sites (Private Sector), Civil Engineering Sites, Building Sites (Sub-contractors) and Civil Engineering Sites (Sub-contractors). There were awards for Safety Teams and Safety Workers.

Assessment criteria covered aspects of site safety and health and safety management, such as overall site layout, work-at-height, use of lifting appliances and machinery, control of falling objects, manual lifting and handling, scaffolding safety, excavation, site housekeeping and personal protective equipment.

2. A nation's hour of humanity revived
Matthew Brunwasser in Sofia, SCMP 16 March 2003

Sixty years have passed since Bulgaria saved it Jews from deportation to extermination camps in Poland in World War II. Despite the extraordinary success of Bulgarians of all social groups in saving the entire Jewish population, and a strong sense of national pride in the country's long history without anti-Semitism, this is Bulgaria's first celebration of the saving of the Jews.

The anniversary includes a "Lesson in Dignity" taught in every school across the country, the first time schools in Bulgaria have taught about the Holocaust.

High-profile celebrations in the national theatre, parliament and Sofia synagogue are helping to keep the events at the top of the national news. A new postage stamp commemorates the 60th anniversary and an unorthodox ceremony at a monastery featured a rabbi and a priest conducting religious rites at the graves of top Bulgarian clergy during World War II.

Before last week, most Bulgarians knew little about the widespread protests which stopped the planned deportation of 50,000 Jews.

Before 1989, the story could not be told because it credited the enemies of the communist regime: the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Tsar Boris III and the average Bulgarian on the street who loudly voiced opposition to his government's policy, while communist partisans did little to help.

Since then, the emotional debate over who should receive credit, fuelled by the unsettled political scores left over from communism, prevented any national commemoration.

The passage of 60 years since the cattle trains, waiting in Plovdiv and Kyustendil, were scheduled to depart with the first 8,500 Jews now coincides with the regeneration of Bulgaria's democratic institutions. The country has chosen to value the lesson offered by the moral actions of a broad range of individuals and institutions, over political vindication. "So many people expressed the will to save the Jews, against the official policy of the government," says Albena Taneva, a professor at Sofia University and Holocaust educator and researcher who is helping or ganise the national observation.

"It is very important for people to understand, no matter how authoritarian the circumstances, or how severe the political situation, there is always a personal choice."

On that cold winter day 60 years ago, police woke up several hundred Jews in Plovdiv at 4am and told them they had 30 minutes to pack their bags. They spent a cold March day in the gymnasium of the Jewish school, awaiting what they were sure would be certain death. But news of the secret deportations leaked out. By the time news of the detention spread, phone calls, personal and political connections, more outrage anda visit by the enraged Orthodox Christian Metropolit [Bishop] Kiril shaking his staff at the police had convinced the authorities to withdraw the order. They were released at the end of the day, when the police announced simply: "The order has been rescinded, you are free." "Kiril was a great humanist," says Yvette anavi, 82, wearing the same little yellow Jewish star on her lapel which she wore at the time. She was among a crowd of about 500 gathered by a thankyou monument in the former Jewish quarter of Plovdiv, listening to emotional speeches by Bulgarian and Israeli officials.

"We didn't see anything compared to our fellow Jews in Germany, Austria and Hungary," says Berti Levy, 77, standing next to her. "Everyone needs to know about this."

Another deportation of the Jews was planned for May 1943. But following pressure from the Church, the tsar and a leak by the personal secretary of the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs, these plans too were frustrated by popular opposition.

Mot people are unaware that Bularia was successful in saving its Jews precisely because it was a Nazi ally and did not suffer occupation by the German army or terror from the Gestapo secret police. Many people in Europe saved Jews, says Sir Martin Gilbert, historian and author of several books on the Holocaust, most recently The Righteous.

What was unusual about the Bulgarians' response was the speed of the public reaction, says Sir Martin. There was no time for forming committees or discussions - the time between the time between the issuing of the deportation order and when the trains were supposed to leave the station was just 16 days. Nazi Germany had the resources and organisation to deport Jews secretly and quickly, but only with no resistance.

What was also extraordinary were the numbers saved, he says, and that the entire Jewish community survived. "Why are we always so surprised by goodness and the fact that people don't want to murder each other?" Sir Martin says.

Bulgarians are also just starting to consider the nation's responsibility for the collection and deportation of 11,343 Jews to extermination camps from the areas of northern Greece and Macedonia under Bulgarian "administration". This part of Bulgaria's role in the Holocaust is not mentioned nearly as often as the positive.

Patriarch Stefan, when traveling in the countryside, coincidentally came across the trains transporting these Jews across Bulgaria from the "New Territories".

"Do not persecute in order to not be persecuted," Stefan, the head of the church, wrote in a letter to Tsar Boris III. "Measure for measure, remember Boris, that God watches your deeds."

This first Holocaust history lesson is being taught in every school across the country, varying according to the school and the teacher - there is no centralized lesson plan.

In the Alexander Pushkin High School, Yanislava Andreeva's 10th grade ethics class covered big issues: personal responsibility in a society committing genocide, justification for killing, personal morality and so on. Most students knew very little about the Holocaust at the beginning of the class.

The historical record speaks clearly about Bulgaria's lack of anti-Semitism, particularly notable in Eastern Europe.

Jews have always been integrated in Bulgaria: they never lived in separate villages or ghettoes as they did in Poland and Russia.

Bulgaria is a multi-ethnic country with a tradition of accepting persecuted minorities, such as Armenians from Turkey.