Sands China Wraps Up Occupational Safety and Health Month

OSH campaign encourages safe and healthy habits for team members

(Macao, Dec. 14, 2021) – Sands China Ltd. recently hosted its OSH Month, an annual campaign to promote occupational safety and health (OSH) for its team members through a variety of activities and initiatives. More than 11,000 team members participated in the campaign, which ran from Nov. 16 to Dec. 9.

Apart from offering OSH knowledge, OSH Month encouraged good habits for team member health, physical fitness and well-being in collaboration with myFITNESS. A Sands China initiative that launched in 2018, myFITNESS includes Green Mondays, which encourages team members to eat a more plant-based diet in support of better health, and a back-of-house health booth, which provides team members with free health advice.

"This is Sands China's fourth consecutive year hosting a campaign dedicated to raising OSH awareness among team members," said Dr. Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China Ltd. "With the guiding principle of 'safety, health, and prevention first,' we remain committed to preventing accidents, creating a safe environment, and encouraging the overall health and well-being of team members. Our gratitude goes to the Labour Affairs Bureau, social service and medical organisations for their wholehearted support to raising OSH awareness, and to our team members for their continued dedication to their work and for their attention to workplace safety and personal health."

The campaign's Nov. 16 opening ceremony was held at The Venetian^® Macao's team member dining room. Guests of honour presented the company's OSH Awards, which recognise Sands China departments that have demonstrated occupational safety and health excellence. Established last year, the awards are the first of their kind among Macao's integrated resort operators, and aim to promote OSH to team members through a learning and communication platform.

Wong Chi Hong, director of the Labour Affairs Bureau, said: "It takes employees, employers, and the government's efforts to improve OSH. My sincere gratitude to Sands China for having collaborated with the Labour Affairs Bureau to host roadshows at its back-of-house areas for four years. We are pleased to see that Sands China has included additional elements in this year's OSH campaign, including workplace stretching and healthy diet, in order to raise team members' awareness of occupational and personal health."

This year's campaign highlighted safe and healthy habits and procedures with a series of events and initiatives themed around health data, OSH knowledge, diet, and stretching. Some of these OSH Month activities included:
• Learning about a person's health index, helping team members understand basic health data such as BMI and blood pressure
• OSH seminars, workshops and game booths to increase team members' knowledge and help them establish good OSH habits
• On-site nutritionists offering health advice to team members and explaining colour-coded labels at team member dining rooms for making healthy food choices
• A healthy recipe contest with prizes for team members
• A stretching exercise contest with prizes for departments to come up with a stretch routine that suits the particular needs of each department

Sands China signed its Occupational Safety and Health Charter in 2017, with the aim to foster further collaboration between employers and employees, promote a safe and healthy working environment, and establish a comprehensive occupational safety and health management system. Since the charter's signing, team members have attended various OSH trainings organised by DSAL or Sands China more than 215,000 times, comprising over 194,000 training hours provided to team members to date.

Sands China was also a pioneer in introducing and training its OSH wardens – team members with specialised training in occupational safety and health. OSH wardens have regular meetings with various departments where they formulate precautionary measures, supervise related practices, and do follow-ups to ensure that all OSH objectives are met. The total number of safety wardens has increased from 450 in 2020 to 725 at present.

Sands China has seen measurable achievements in the workplace due to its ongoing OSH efforts. Its facilities department gained ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certifications in October 2019 for its Integrated Management System, and another four departments – food and beverage, housekeeping, security, and procurement and supply chain – have obtained ISO 45001. With the cage, table games and slots departments now undergoing a re-assessment audit for renewal, the company is working to extend the certification to other departments. Furthermore, a cross-departmental OSH Committee continues to oversee supervision, management (through ISO certification and Kaizen system), and education of occupational safety and health, while enhancing the frequency of field inspections to build a safe workplace.

Photo caption: Guests of honour kick off Sands China's OSH Month with an opening ceremony Nov. 16 at The Venetian Macao, in promotion of occupational safety and health (OSH) at Sands China properties.

Left to right: Dr. Jose Peres De Sousa, Director of Phoenix Medical Limited; Nico S. F. Hong, Assistant General Manager of China Taiping Insurance (Macau) Co., Ltd.; Parris Fok, President of the Macau Professional Nutritionist Association; Choi Kam Fu, Deputy Director-General of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions; Wong Chi Hong, Director of the Macao SAR Government Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL); Dr. Wilfred Wong, President of Sands China Ltd.; Ng Sio Lai, Director of the General Union of Neighbourhood Associations of Macau; Cheung Pui Peng, Vice President of the Women's General Association of Macau; Wong Kam Sun, President of the Macau Deaf Association; Dr. John Chan, Technical Director of the Wellness Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre; Dr. Cynthia Cheong, Operation Manager of Genesis Healthcare Limited

 

Photo caption: A team member learns about her basic health data such as BMI and blood pressure at The Venetian Macao's back-of-house team member area as part of Sands China's OSH Month.