受热带气旋「白海豚」外围下沉气流影响，本港连日录得极端高温天气，天文台总部周日录得最高气温36.9度，是1884年有纪录以来最高。上水更一度逼近40度。然而，面对百年一遇的酷热天气，劳工处的「工作暑热警告」一直维持在低级别的「黄色」，这反映现有制度存在不足，起不到保障户外工作者权益的应有作用。劳工处表示将在今个暑假内完成制度检讨。

「工作暑热警告」于2023年推出，分为黄、红、黑三级，迄今共发出200多次警告，全为黄色，一次红色或黑色都没有。今年4月，劳工处改良警告启动机制，改用多个监测点及较宽松比例，原本预期今年夏天触发高级别警告的机率会提高。结果事与愿违，即使香港遭遇「142年来最热的一天」，高警告级别仍未能启动，令人疑惑。

问题出在哪里？首先，工作暑热警告原是针对一般大众设计，由于市民大部分时间在室内活动，指数中太阳暴晒的分量很少，未能充分考虑建筑、清洁、运输等露天工作的处境。红色警告标准设在暑热指数32以上，意味着在温度、湿度、太阳辐射等多项指标需要同时达到极端水平才会触发，门槛高到离谱，根本是脱离现实。有专家指出，劳工处或许用错指标，应该采用国际标准的「湿球温度」和「黑球温度」，两者结合为「湿球黑球温度」，准确反映热压力，广泛应用于国际职业安全和户外工作防暑标准。

其次，目前的工作暑热警告只是一套行政指引，没有法律效力。劳工处只能劝喻雇主在酷热天气下让雇员适当休息，但如果雇主不跟从，打工仔只能「顶硬上」。一旦中暑，亦难以获得工伤补偿，原因是中暑至今并未纳入法定职业病清单。一个没有法律效力的警告制度，加上一套与现实脱节的指标，自然是「无牙老虎」。相比之下，香港应对台风、暴雨等恶劣天气设立了相对完善的警告及配套制度，在什么情况下停工、停课以及交通安排如何，都有清晰指引，让整个社会有所遵从。

对于近日各界发出的批评质疑声音，劳工处已经听到了，并且作出了积极回应。劳工处处长许泽森昨日表示，处方在极端高温出现后已即时检视后台数据，了解是个别数据问题抑或是制度设计有缺陷。目前正与天文台商讨优化工作暑热警告，调整触发门槛，令其敏感度更高。至于改革时间表，许泽森表示「希望尽快」，会在暑假结束前完成。

劳工处优化酷热警告制度，既有坊间建议可供参考，也有他山之石可资借鉴。澳门劳工事务局明确规定，当气温达到34度或以上，雇主需向户外工作者提供适当的防护措施。内地的高温补贴制度实施多年，近年将制度进一步优化，高温健康风险预警由国家气象局与国家疾控部门联合发布。事实上，极端高温下不仅容易诱发中暑，还可能引发热痉挛、热衰竭、肠胃不适、空调病等问题，并导致慢性病恶化。今年欧洲热浪已造成2万5千人死亡，引起全球高度关注。

特区政府倾听民意，表示将检讨高温警告制度、提高其敏感性，此外还可研究将中暑等高温疾病纳入职业病清单，为户外工作者制订更清晰且具约束力的保障框架。

节录自《大公报》

2026年8月12日社评

Putting Workers First: Improving Hong Kong's Heat Warning System

Under the influence of the subsiding air associated with Tropical Cyclone Podul, Hong Kong has recorded days of extreme heat. The Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters registered a maximum temperature of 36.9°C on Sunday, the highest since records began in 1884, with Sheung Shui coming close to 40°C. Yet in the face of this once-in-a-century heatwave, the Labour Department's Heat Stress at Work Warning has remained at the lowest, Amber, level throughout. This is a clear indication that the existing system falls short of its intended purpose of safeguarding the interests of outdoor workers. The Labour Department has stated that it will complete a review of the system within this summer.

Introduced in 2023, the Heat Stress at Work Warning comprises three levels: Amber, Red and Black. To date, more than 200 warnings have been issued, every one of them Amber, with not a single Red or Black warning ever triggered. In April this year, the Labour Department refined the warning mechanism by incorporating readings from additional monitoring stations and adopting a more relaxed threshold. It was expected that higher-level warnings would become more likely to be triggered this summer. Contrary to expectations, even Hong Kong's hottest day in 142 years failed to trigger a higher-level warning. This result has left many puzzled.

Where, then, does the problem lie? In the first place, the Heat Stress at Work Warning was originally designed with the general public in mind. As most members of the public spend the greater part of their time indoors, the index attaches relatively little weight to direct sun exposure, and fails to adequately account for the conditions faced by those working outdoors in construction, cleansing and transport. The threshold for a Red warning is set at a Heat Index reading of 32 or above, meaning that multiple indicators, including temperature, humidity and solar radiation, must simultaneously reach extreme levels before it is triggered. Such a threshold is unreasonably high and, in essence, divorced from reality. Some experts have pointed out that the Labour Department may be relying on the wrong indicators, and should instead adopt internationally recognised measures such as Wet Bulb Temperature and Black Globe Temperature, which combine to form the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). This measure accurately reflects heat stress and is widely applied in international occupational safety and outdoor heat-prevention standards.

Secondly, the current Heat Stress at Work Warning amounts to no more than an administrative guideline, devoid of legal force. The Labour Department can only advise employers to allow employees appropriate rest during hot weather. Where employers fail to comply, workers have little choice but to carry on regardless. Should a worker suffer heatstroke, obtaining compensation for a work injury remains difficult, given that heatstroke has yet to be included in the statutory list of occupational diseases. A warning system with no legal force, compounded by indicators divorced from reality, is inevitably little more than a "toothless tiger". By comparison, Hong Kong has established a relatively comprehensive system of warnings and accompanying arrangements for adverse weather such as typhoons and rainstorms. Clear guidelines set out when work and classes should be suspended and how transport arrangements should be made, provides the whole of society with a clear framework to follow.

In response to the criticism and doubts voiced by various sectors in recent days, the Labour Department has taken note and responded positively. The Commissioner for Labour, Mr Chris Sun, stated yesterday that the Department had reviewed the back-end data immediately after the recent extreme heat. It sought to determine whether the issue lay with individual data readings or with flaws in the system's design. The Department is currently discussing with the Hong Kong Observatory ways to refine the Heat Stress at Work Warning, including adjusting the triggering thresholds so as to enhance its sensitivity. As for the timetable for reform, Mr Sun indicated that the Department hopes to complete it "as soon as possible", before the end of the summer.

In refining the heat warning system, the Labour Department may draw on suggestions from the community as well as lessons from elsewhere. Macao's Labour Affairs Bureau expressly requires that once temperatures reach 34°C or above, employers must provide outdoor workers with appropriate protective measures. On the Mainland, the high-temperature subsidy system has been in place for many years and has been further refined in recent years, with high-temperature health risk warnings now jointly issued by the national meteorological authority and the national disease control authority. Indeed, extreme heat is liable not only to induce heatstroke, but also heat cramps, heat exhaustion, gastrointestinal discomfort, air-conditioning illness and other conditions, and may exacerbate chronic diseases. This year's heatwaves in Europe have already claimed 25,000 lives, drawing intense global concern.

Having listened to public opinion, the SAR Government has indicated that it will review the heat warning system and enhance its sensitivity. It could, in addition, examine the inclusion of heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke in the list of occupational diseases, and formulate a clearer and more binding protective framework for outdoor workers.

常用词汇

•occupational（职业的、与工作相关的 adj.）

例：Construction workers face a range of occupational hazards, including heat stress and physical injury.（建筑工人面对多种职业风险，包括热压力及身体受伤。）

应用情境：讨论职场安全、劳工保障议题的必备词汇，常见搭配有occupational disease（职业病）、occupational hazard（职业风险）、occupational safety（职业安全），适合Paper 2写作涉及职场、劳工权益题目，或Paper 4口试讨论工作环境话题。

•statutory（法定的、法律规定的 adj.）

例：Employers are required to provide a statutory minimum wage to all workers.（雇主必须向所有员工提供法定最低工资。）

应用情境：讨论政策、法例、劳工权益等题目时常用，可与legally binding、mandatory搭配使用，展现对法律及制度议题的精准表达，适合Paper 2撰写报告、议论文提及法规时使用。

•exacerbate（使恶化、加剧 v.）

例：Air pollution can exacerbate respiratory conditions such as asthma.（空气污染会加剧哮喘等呼吸系统疾病。）

应用情境：讨论健康、环境议题时，用以表达「令原有问题变得更严重」，比make worse更为正式，语感亦比aggravate略为书面化，适合Paper 2议论文分析后果之段落，或Paper 4讨论公共卫生议题时使用。

写作应用

一、如何写「问题与不足」

•divorced from reality（脱离现实）

字面意思是「与现实分离」，即「不切实际」，常用以形容政策、指标、理论与现实脱节，是进阶写作中可加分的表达。

例句：Critics argue that the new curriculum is divorced from reality and fails to prepare students for the workplace.（批评者认为新课程脱离现实，未能让学生为职场做好准备。）

近义词辨析：

out of touch with reality（与现实脱节，较口语化，程度较轻）

unrealistic（不切实际，语气最直接、最平淡）

detached from real-world conditions（与实际情况脱节，较正式、学术化）

二、如何写「质疑与批评」

•little more than a "toothless tiger"（形同虚设）

little more than X即「不过是X而已」，带轻蔑语气；"toothless tiger"为常见比喻，形容表面有权力、实际缺乏执行力的制度或机构。

例句：Without proper enforcement, the anti-littering law is little more than a toothless tiger.（若无适当执法，反乱抛垃圾法例形同虚设。）

近义词辨析：

ineffective（无效的，较平淡直接）

lacking real teeth（缺乏实际约束力，语气接近但较口语）

purely symbolic（纯属象征性，强调「有名无实」）

三、如何写「借鉴与参考」

•draw on（借助、参考）

draw on即汲取、参考（资源、经验、意见），属书面语常用片语动词。学生作文常误用"refer to"代替，其实draw on更能贴切表达「善用某种资源作出决定」的意思。

例句：In improving its policy, the department can draw on both suggestions from the community and experience from other places.（部门在优化政策时，既可参考社会建议，亦可借鉴外地经验。）

近义词辨析：

refer to（提及、参考，较中性、较弱）

take reference from（参照，较口语化）

build on（在……基础上发展，强调延续而非单纯参考）

四、如何写「改善与建议」

•formulate a clearer and more binding protective framework（制订更清晰、更具约束力的保障框架）

formulate指「制订、拟定」（政策、计划），比make或create更正式、更具官方语感；binding指「有约束力的」（法律用语），framework即「框架、制度」。此句式非常适合作文结尾提出建议：formulate a + adj + adj + framework/mechanism/policy to do sth。

例句：The government should formulate a clearer and more binding policy to regulate the use of AI in schools.（政府应制订更清晰、更具约束力的政策，规管人工智能在校园的使用。）

近义词辨析：

set up a system to（建立制度，较中性、较口语）

put in place a mechanism to（设立机制，较正式）

institute a binding regime to（订立具约束力的制度，语气最正式、最强硬）