Although work injuries continued to decline in recent years, the recovery of the labour market and start of many infrastructural projects will pose tough challenges to occupational safety and health, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung says.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony of the Outstanding Employees in Occupational Safety & Health Award Scheme today, he said the number of work injuries declined from 58,092 in 2000 to 39,579 in 2009 while the accident rate per thousand employees was cut by 35.6% to 15.

The number of industrial accidents also saw a notable decline of 59.6% from 33,652 in 2000 to 13,600 in 2009. The accident rate per thousand workers also declined 52.4% to 24.6.

The improvement made by the construction industry has been most notable, he said. The number of accidents declined from 11,925 in 2000 to 2,755 in 2009, down 76.9% while the accident rate per thousand workers was cut from 149.8 to 54.6.

"Manpower is our most valuable asset. Occupational injuries and diseases incur economic losses directly and indirectly. Every single work injury not only does damage to the employee, the employer and society as a whole will also have a price to pay," Mr Cheung said.

In 2009 the Labour Department handled 42,326 cases of reported sick leave for more than three days. These involved a loss of 1.92 million work days with more than $1.03 billion paid in sick leave compensation. The average compensation rate for each case amounted to $25,000 and a loss of 45 working days.