Safety Management in our Joint Ventures

Apart from our gas production operations in Hong Kong, we also invest and manage diverse businesses in mainland China. In doing so, we not only introduce our commercial and financial expertise, but also our extensive health and safety experience and activities. Through this “mentoring” relationship, we have established an excellent track record for safety among our mainland businesses.

Number of Accidents Causing a Fatality	2007	2006
Hong Kong & China Gas Investment Limited – Gas Business	1	0
Hong Kong & China Gas Investment Limited – Water Business	0	0

To prevent re-occurrences of serious or fatal accidents, we investigated two severe injury cases extremely thoroughly, one in Xi’an related to a gas explosion, and the other in Suzhou related to working in a confined space. We identified the root causes in both instances and recommended appropriate improvements to avoid any re-occurrences in the future.

JVs	Awards / Recognitions in 2007
Wuhan	Zero Incident Certificate
	OHSAS 18001 Certification
Jinan	2007 Shandong Province Fire Safety Pioneer Company
	Safety Management Pioneer Company of the Provincial Gas Industry
	2007 Safety Production Pioneer Company
Xuzhou	2007 Safety Production Pioneer Company
	Appointed Corporation for Level 4 Safety Production Training
Changzhou	2007 Safety Pioneer Corporation
Longkou	GB/T 28001 Certification, ISO 14001, ISO 9001
Huzhou	GB/T 28001 Certification, ISO 14001, ISO 9001
Maanshan	OHSAS 18001 Certification*
	2007 Safety Production Pioneer Company
	Maanshan Safety and Health Cup (2007) – Best Corporation
	Anhui Province Safety and Health Cup (2007) – Commendation
Maanshan (ECO)	OHSAS 18001 Certification*
Yixing	2007 Elementary Management Pioneer Company (Safety Management on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods)
Tongxiang	2007 Safety Management Pioneer Company of Zhejiang Province Gas Industry
Guangzhou	Guangzhou Safety and Health Cup – Commendation
Dongyong, Guangzhou	Safety Corporation
Suzhou (Hua Yan)	2007 Suzhou Industrial Park Safety Pioneer Corporation
	2007 Corporate Safety Management Pioneer Company

Remarks:
GB/T 28001	Occupational Health and Safety Management System standard (published by the Chinese Government)
ISO 9001	Quality Management System standard (published by International Standards Organisation)
ISO 14001	Environmental Management System standard (published by International Standards Organisation)
OHSAS 18001	Occupational Health and Safety Management System Specification (published by British Standards Institution)

Safety of the Gas Infrastructure

To achieve and maintain the highest safety standards in our gas infrastructure, we transferred corporate safety practices used in Hong Kong to our JVs. We also introduced advanced alarm and monitoring systems to manage and maintain their safety performances.

In 2007, we installed the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) gas network security monitoring systems in Jinan to detect gas leakage in manhole ducts. We also adopted an Electronic Marking System (EMS) in the Beijing JV which locates the placement of underground pipelines. This helps to avoid accidental pipeline breakages during road works or other construction projects, protecting the public from possible gas leakages. An Electronics Patrol System was also installed in the JV in Changzhou – there have been no reported incidents since its installation.

Customer Safety

In mainland China, we conduct regular safety inspections of both gas appliances and pipelines for residential customers every 12 months. We also apply the same stringent international safety standards as in Hong Kong when we design and manufacture our Bauhinia appliances, which are designed specifically for the mainland market.

Ensuring better communication with our customers, we organised 37 outreach activities in Xuzhou to promote the importance of gas safety. These extensive activities included the distribution of a user safety manual to residential customers, briefings on the replacement of gas appliances, on-site consultation on the safe use of gas, customer focus groups and “Excellence Services Days”. Similar outreach programmes will be extended to other areas, enhancing the flow of two-way communications and increasing gas safety awareness among our customers into the future.

Other gas safety promotional initiatives include the production of a DVD, together with usage guidelines for property management companies and households; leaflets and posters; as well as training and experience sharing workshops.