Soon, employers can no longer ask domestic helpers to clean the outside of their high-rise apartment windows… unless they meet certain criteria.
The government announced yesterday that any Standard Employment Contract for foreign domestic helpers signed from Jan. 1 2017 will include a clause to better protect helpers, rather than put an end to window-cleaning entirely.
The clause stipulates that, when employers ask a helper to clean the outside of any window which is not on the ground floor or not next to a balcony (on which it is reasonably safe to work), the window must be fitted with a secured grille and no part of the helpers body except their arms extend beyond the window ledge.
A spokesperson for the Labour Department said the government “is committed to safeguarding the occupational safety of employees, including FDHs” and had made the changes after consulting with domestic helper groups, employer groups, the consuls general from the helpers’ home countries, and agency associations.
However, the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), the largest migrant workers’ alliance in Hong Kong, says it’s not good enough. Eman Villanueva, a spokesperson for the group, told the SCMP that the “majority of helpers” remain unprotected under existing contracts, and that there were no set penalties laid out for employers who violate the new clause.
In September, hundreds of domestic helpers marched to demand higher pay and better working conditions, specifically highlighting the dangers of cleaning high-rise windows. At the time, the AMCB said they believed at least three maids had fallen to death whilst cleaning windows in 2016.
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