APOSHO Annual Conference

Minutes of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of
the APOSHO Member
held in the Holiday Inn Golden Mile, Hong Kong
on Wednesday, 23 April 1997 at 8:30 a.m.

Chairman
Professor LEUNG Ping-chung,
Chairman of the Occupational Safety & Health Council

Members

2. National Safety Council of Australia Ltd.
3. Ministry of Development, Brunei
4. Chinese Society for Science and Technology of Labour Protection
5. The Safety & Environment Protection Research Institute, China
6. The Hong Kong Occupational Safety & Health Council
7. Hong Kong Occupational Safety & Health Association
8. National Safety Council of India
9. National Safety and Health Council of Indonesia
10. Japan Industrial Safety & Health Association
11. Korea Industrial Safety Corporation
12. Malaysian Society of Occupational Safety and Health
13. Association of Health & Safety Managers, Mauritius
14. Occupational Safety & Health Service, New Zealand
15. Safety Organization of the Philippines
16. National Safety Council of Singapore
17. Chinese Taipei Industrial Safety and Health Association, Taiwan
18. National Institute of Labour Protection, Vietnam

Honorary Members:

Apologies:

1-1
The Chairman expressed warm welcome to all APOSHO members. Strong representation
of each member organization in this annual meeting demonstrated a strong alliance for
furtherance of safety & health in the Asia-Pacific region.

1.2
The Chairman introduced the non-members who were invited to participate in the annual
meeting.

2.1
The Chairman informed that the Hong Kong Secretariat received nominations for Dr SOEKARNO
of Indonesia and Mr YIP Yuk-lun of Hong Kong to be the Honorary Members of APOSHO for their
contributions towards the development of safety & health in the region.

2.2
The Meeting AGREED to approve the nominations.
Moved : Singapore
Seconded : India

3.1
The Chairman informed that the next APOSHO annual meeting will be held at Korea as agreed
in the APOSHO 12 held in Melbourne. As President of the Korea Industrial Safety Corporation
(KISCO), Mr AHN Young Soo, had to leave early, the outgoing Chairman, Professor LEUNG
Ping-chung presented the APOSHO flag to Mr AHN for preparation of the APOSHO 14 at Korea.

3.2
Mr AHN Young Soo thanked Professor LEUNG and the Hong Kong Occupational Safety & Health
Council for the well-organized events and generous hospitality shown in the past few days. Mr AHN
extended invitation to all members to attend the APOSHO 14 at Korea next year. He assured that
there would be a bountiful to be seen in Korea and opportunities to enhance safety and health
alliances among member-organizations.

4.1
The Chairman accepted on behalf of the APOSHO a memento presented by the Honorary
Members. Mr Russell LEITH explained to the Meeting that the memento, engraved with the APOSHO
logo, symbolized the tradition of the APOSHO and should be passed on to the next meetings.

4.2
The Chairman thanked the Honorary Members for this meaningful gesture and agreed to have
the memento passed on to the APOSHO 14.

5-1
Mr Jim WHITING proposed to amend the minutes as follows:

(a) The Chinese Society for Science and Technology of Labour Protection as appeared on page
one was duplicated and should be replaced by The Safety & Environment Protection Research
Institute

(b) The correct name of the member-organization of Malaysia should read: Malaysian Society
for Occupational Safety & Health.

5.2
The Meeting AGREED to confirm the minutes of last meeting subject to the two amendments
as proposed.

6.1
Membership - The Chairman informed that the matter would be dealt with under separate
agenda in this meeting.

6.2
APOSHO OHS System Standard - Mr Jim WHITING, Convenor of the Standards Committee informed
that the matter would be dealt with in the Standard Committee's report.


7. Report and Recommendations of the Constitution Review Committee
    (Document 3)

7.1
The Chairman summarized the recommendations made by the Constitution Review Committee
in its report tabled at the meeting.

7.2
Mr Jim WHITING supported the recommendations proposed by the Constitution Review Committee
regarding the 5 principles and the consequential amendments to the Constitution.

7.3
Mr M NOMIYAMA and Mr K C GUPTA agreed that the proposed amendments to the Constitution
should require further consideration by members.

7.4
Mr HUNG Ming-yuan of Taiwan proposed to delete the phrase Province of China from Item 23 listed
under the definition of Asia. The Chairman informed that the list of regions/countries defining Asia
-Pacific was provided by Mr Jalaludin YUSOFF.

7.5
Mr Jalaludin YUSOFF explained that the list was obtained through Internet from the Australian National
University at Canberra. Mr YUSOFF agreed that the phrase Province of China should be deleted.

7.6
Mr WONG Yum-yin of Hong Kong suggested to support the 5 principles as proposed with detail
of the amendment be dealt with at the next APOSHO annual meeting.

7.7
Mr Jim WHITING commented that it was a positive achievement for the Constitution Review Committee
to reach the 5 principles. Mr WHITING requested to register his objection to defer the matter to the
next APOSHO annual meeting, but he would be obliged with the majority view of the Meeting.

7.8
The Chairman concluded that the existing Constitution Review Committee should cease to function
after this meeting. The new Constitution Review Committee should be chaired by KISCO of Korea,
with the assignment to review all articles of the Constitution.

7-9
It was RESOLVED that the 5 principles proposed by the Constitution Review Committee should be
unanimously supported. Details of amending the relevant articles of the Constitution would be deferred
to the next APOSHO annual meeting in which solid results would be expected. The 5 principles adopted
by the Meeting were:


(a) Present membership requires careful expansion;
(b) Attitude for selection of membership should be careful and accommodating;
(c) Asia-Pacific should be defined as Asia + Australia + Pacific Islands ;
(d) Existing members which fall outside the geographical region of Asia Pacific should better stay
     as it is, as APOSHO should respect the history of the Organization and maintain the existing
     membership inspite the adoption of definition of Asia Pacific in (c);
(e) Present category of membership should be expanded by adding Affiliate Member .

Moved : India
Seconded : Philippines

7.91
It was further RESOLVED that the new Constitution Review Committee would be chaired
by Mr AHN Young-soo of Korea with membership as follows:

Members:

1. Mr AHN Young-soo, Korea (Convenor)
2. Professor CHENG Ying-xue, China
3. Mr K C GUPTA, India
4. Engr. Geruncio ILAGAN, Philippines
5. Professor LEUNG Ping-chung, Hong Kong
6. Mr Masayuki NOMIYAMA, Japan
7. Mr Jim WHITING, Australia
8. Mr Jalaludin YUSOFF, Singapore
   
   

8.1
The Chairman requested all non-APOSHO members to withdraw from the meeting before
deliberations commenced.

8.2
The Chairman then informed the Meeting of the composition of the Membership Screening
Committee as approved at its formation at the APOSHO 12 Annual Meeting with the following
membership:

Members:

1. Professor LEUNG Ping-chung, Hong Kong (Convenor)
2. Mr Jim WHITING, Australia
3. Mr Ahmad N D SALLEH, Malaysia
4. Mr K C GUPTA, India
5. Mr SOEKOTJO Joedoatomodjo, Indonesia
6. Mr Jalaludin YUSOFF, Singapore
   
   

8.4
All non-APOSHO members were invited back to the meeting and representatives of the newly
accepted member-organizations as well as those potential member-organizations were invited
to address to the Meeting.

9.1
Mr Jalaludin YUSOFF was invited by the Chairman to present the report from the permanent
secretariat. The Meeting AGREED to adopt the report as tabled.

Moved : Australia
Seconded : Philippines

10.1
Mr Jim WHITING, Convenor of the Standards Committee, was invited by the Chairman to present
the report of the Standards Committee as tabled.

10.2
It was RESOLVED that the three recommendations made by the Standards Committee
be adopted as follows:

Recommendation 1 - to rename the Standards Committee as the Occupational Health
and Safety Management System Committee (OHSMS Committee) with previous membership
retained as follows:

Members:

1. Mr Jim WHITING, Australia (Convenor)
2. Mr AHN Young Soo, Korea
3. Professor CHENG Ying-xue , China
4. Mr K C GUPTA, India
5. Mr M NOMIYAMA, Japan
6. Ms L TOWNSEND, New Zealand

Moved : Japan
Seconded : Papua New Guinea
                Philippines

Recommendation 2 - the OHSMS Committee will be charged with the task to collate and
analyze the Occupational Health and Safety Management System Standard (OHSMS) which
has been developed in each respective country for the purpose of identifying the common
elements of OHSMS in each country or region. All members were requested to provide to the
Convenor a two-dimensional matrix comparison of the components of their OHSMS against
the Guideline Standard of ISO 14004.

Moved : Australia
Seconded : Malaysia

Recommendation 3 - To establish a new Technical Committee to collect, collate, analyze
and distribute copies of standards and samples of training courses and certification procedures
for Certified OHS auditors and for the Construction Industry.

Moved : Singapore
Seconded : New Zealand

It was RESOLVED that the Chairman of next APOSHO, Korea, will be the Covenor of the
Technical Committee with membership as follows:

Members:

1. Korea (Convenor)
2. Australia
3. China
4. Hong Kong
5. India
6. Indonesia
7. Japan
8. Malaysia
9. Philippines
10. Singapore
11. Thailand
12. Vietnam

Moved : Australia
Seconded : Malaysia

11.1
Each member-organization was invited to highlight the annual activity of their organizations
as presented in Document 5.

11.2
Mr Seiji MACHIDA expressed delight in witnessing such encouraging development of the APOSHO
and looked forward to further expanded activities. The positive development would be reported
to the International Labour Office at Thailand and Geneva.

12.1
Mr Jim WHITING moved to give a standing ovation to the Hong Kong Occupational Safety
& Health Council for the excellent arrangement of organizing the APOSHO 13 events and
the Annual Meeting. All members endorsed the suggestion with a strong round of applause.

12.2
The Chairman, Professor LEUNG Ping-chung, thanked all members for their active participation
and enthusiasm. It would be important that the APOSHO need to accommodate the temperament
of all members to maintain a strong alliance. Professor LEUNG expressed strong wish
for the APOSHO to strengthen the training and educational aspects of safety & health for the
entire region.

12.3
The Chairman then congratulated the host of next APOSHO, Korea, for taking on this meaningful task
and looked forward to the next APOSHO with keen interest.

12.4
Venues for the next APOSHO annual meetings:

1998 - Korea
1999 - Philippines
2000 - Mauritius

12.5
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the APOSHO 13 Annual Meeting.