Social Inclusion

Safety of our employees, passengers, customers, tenants, contractors and business partners is an uncompromising pre-requisite underlying all aspects of our business. It is the responsibility and duty of all our staff and should always be foremost in everything we do. We are committed to complying with all applicable statutory requirements, upholding a safety-first culture, and employing management systems to achieve the Corporation’s safety goals for continuous improvement in safety performance.

Safety Management System and Corporate Safety Management Model

Our Corporate Safety Policy, along with the Corporate Safety Management Framework, outline our safety management approach and objectives. The Corporate Safety Management Model, which lays down appropriate safety management processes and systems across eight core elements, further supports our approach to safety and constitutes an effective and robust system bespoke to our operations.

Safety management systems are in place to meet our safety objectives throughout the design, construction and commissioning phases of individual development projects within and outside Hong Kong. We also apply safety management systems for safety assurance and compliance in the operations of all our businesses. Regular audits are conducted to ensure the effective implementation of these systems. For more information, please refer to our Corporate Safety Management Model – Audit and System Assurance below.

Standards and Procedures

In addition to our Corporate Safety Policy, we have a list of safety documents stating management's commitment to safety at work and providing instructions for managing risks and working safely. These documents include safety rules, procedures, and work instructions. These documents are formulated as necessary, reviewed regularly and communicated to all employees to provide clear instructions for managing risks and workplace safety.

Corporate Strategic Safety Plan

To align our safety strategy with the latest global trends and best industry practices, we review and formulate a Corporate Strategic Safety Plan every four years. The latest 4-year Corporate Strategic Safety Plan (“the Plan”) was launched in 2021. The Plan sets the path in safety for the Corporation under the “Transforming the Future” Corporate Strategy and promotes the aspiration of “Everyone is a safety leader” in reaching a goal of zero harm to all stakeholders. Stressing safety is everyone’s responsibility with the importance of teamwork, the Plan lists out the Safety Aspirations, Safety Goals and Strategic Focus Areas to guide our safety practices and drive safety improvements across all our businesses in Hong Kong, Mainland China and abroad.

Organisation and Management Accountability

The implementation of the Corporate Strategic Safety Plan 2021-2024 and our overall safety performance is monitored by the Corporate Safety Management Committee (“CSMC”) which supports and advises the Executive Committee and the Board on the adequacy of safety management and risk control. The CSMC also commissions reviews and audits to promote continual safety improvements.

Audit and System Assurance

We have structured audit programmes in place to assure that our safety management systems are effectively implemented with the intended objectives and to identify opportunities for improvement. The robust system assurance process is applied where appropriate to ensure that safety risks are duly assessed and managed.

For over 20 years, our safety system assurance process has been implemented to design, construct, and commission our new rail lines with reference to international standards such as the European Standard EN50126. In particular, we integrate, verify and validate safety requirements through both top-down and bottom-up approaches including setting contract requirements, conducting safety integrity level assessments for safety-related and safety-critical systems and design, and performing onsite verification and validation activities. We employ independent safety assessors to check the adequacy and effectiveness of the development processes of our safety critical systems to provide additional assurance.

The Corporation has also undertaken a transformation to build a structure for applying the Three Lines of Defence (“LoD”) model for safety assurance. The first LoD is the day-to-day line management supervision and checking at business unit level. The second LoD is the checks and balances conducted for the Executive Committee by an independent Director. The third LoD is to audit or perform specific checking by Internal Audit on the first and second LoD to assure the Chief Executive Officer or the Board that they effectively discharge their defined roles.

Risk Management

We proactively identify and register safety hazards and assess and mitigate associated risks in a structured manner to a level that is as low as reasonably practical. As a company serving millions of customers every day, we work closely with the Government to monitor public health related issues and formulate emergency preparedness plans, such as the Corporate Infectious Disease Business Continuity Plan and the Corporate Crisis Management Plan, to ensure a swift response in case of public health issues. Risk management and control are regularly reviewed, adjusted and prioritised as needed.

We have established a Corporate Crisis Management Team (“CMT”), which comprises relevant members of the Executive Directorate and Executive Managers, to keep track of the latest corporate crisis, plan strategic actions and disseminate corporate crisis-related information. Scenario-based desktop exercises are regularly conducted to provide corporate CMT members with an opportunity to practise their strategic decision-making skills under a corporate crisis. It also helps rehearse and validate the corporate crisis management arrangements and capability of the Corporation for continuous improvement.

We benchmark our performance against other transport operators and learn from others through participating in:

• Joint Utilities Safety and Occupational Health Policy Group – A policy group to enhance consultation, liaison, and good practices sharing between the Government, Occupational Safety and Health Council (“OSHC”) and utility companies on safety and occupational health issues.
• International Association of Public Transport (“UITP”) – A worldwide network which brings together all public transport stakeholders and all sustainable transport modes for knowledge exchange.
• COMET Benchmarking – A platform where metro operators around the world benchmark performance and share information through the Community of Metros (“COMET”).

Asset Management

To ensure compliance and adequately identify and mitigate safety risks, we systematically manage and continuously improve our capital assets. Our Hong Kong Transport Services (“HKTS”) Business Unit has been certified to ISO 55001 Asset Management System to meet our high standards of safety and services. The HKTS Business Unit assesses operational safety impacts across all our operations and ensures that critical items (i.e. items that are either associated with high safety risks or may potentially lead to prolonged service interruptions) conform to our specifications on safety and service standards in line with the ISO 55001 requirements.

In addition, we have been certified to ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System for our HKTS Business Unit, Property Management Department, Capital Works Business Unit and some of our overseas subsidiaries. We aim to improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks and create a safer working environment. Some examples of our certifications to ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System include:

• ISO 45001 for Planning, Development and Delivery of Railway Services, and Management of Railway Assets;
• ISO 45001 for Maintaining the Safety Management System for Capital Works Business Unit of MTR Corporation (Projects include extension projects and operations projects);
• ISO 45001 for Design and Provision of Property and Facility Management Services; and
• ISO 45001 for Operations and Maintenance of Cable Car System and Ngong Ping Theme Village.

Competence Management

We have developed a competence management model to systematically review and determine the competence requirements of our people. The model facilitates our arrangements of employee selection and placement to ensure they are capable of managing risks and performing their duties safely. We also assess the competence of our contractors as part of the selection and review process.

To maximise employees' safety and service performance, our Human Factors Programme draws on behavioural patterns to ensure that the same action is regularly and correctly repeated under normal circumstances and our employees can respond quickly and properly in emergency situations. In many areas of our operations, we adopt the “Pointing and Calling” procedure to effectively reduce human errors where an employee points with their finger and states aloud the action to be taken.

Safety Culture

Safety leadership is central to developing and cultivating a safety culture at MTR and the effective execution of our safety management plan. We create an ecosystem which facilitates the regular exchange of best safety practices and proactive reporting on safety hazards amongst our employees globally through various internal channels, platforms and portals. For example, a mobile application “Anomaly • Alert • Action (AAA) iSPOTit” enables employees to instantly report anomalies and hazards in all the Corporation’s premises, including stations, depots, shopping malls, the Corporation’s managed residential properties, office buildings and training centres to allow timely responses.

In addition to the corporate safety messages and videos posted on our online portals, we have developed a safety sharing platform on our MTRconnects portal accessible by all our employees worldwide. To promote knowledge and experience sharing on safety management and good practices, we have also established the Safety Professionals' Community, a communication network across the Corporation covering subsidiaries and associates worldwide.

We also maintain open and ongoing communication on safety practices and performance with relevant stakeholders and actively engage them to:

• enhance their understanding of corporate requirements on safety and performance through sharing of information, education, influence, and collaboration;
• establish areas of cooperation and involvement by listening, understanding and responding to their concerns;
• promote awareness and ownership of safety responsibilities; and
• learn and improve through sharing lessons and knowledge.

We also closely monitor our site teams to make sure that they uphold the highest safety standards at all construction sites.

Cleaning and Disinfecting

We are committed to operating a safe and hygienic railway network and keeping our city moving.

To safeguard the health of our staff and customers, we have implemented a wide range of preventive measures to ensure the sanitary conditions of our trains, stations and facilities. Examples of these measures include:

• Stepping up the frequency of our cleansing and disinfection procedures;
• Increasing filter cleansing and air intake frequency for better air flow and ventilation at our stations;
• Applying an anti-bacterial coating to the handrails with extra disinfection on a regular basis;
• Deploying “Little Whale” and “Big Whale” cleaning robots to conduct deep cleaning and decontamination in stations;
• Installing contactless proximity sensor buttons in more than 100 lifts across our stations and facilities; and
• Adopting robotic cleaning technologies by deploying cleaning robots to conduct deep cleaning and decontamination in stations.

Heavy Rail, Light Rail and Bus

We continuously identify new opportunities to enhance the safety features of our assets. Our engagement activities parallel this to raise awareness of our customers and the general public on rail and road safety.

Suicide Prevention

To prevent unauthorised access to the rail tracks, we continue to install automatic platform gates (“APG”) at our stations. We have installed APG or Platform Screen Doors for all heavy rail lines except for East Rail Line, in which the APG will be installed as part of the East Rail Line cross-harbour extension. In addition to the employment of the Suicide Prevention Team and the Suicide Prevention roving team at critical stations, we collaborate with The Samaritan Befrienders to set up Emotional First Aid counters at selected East Rail Line stations to provide information related to emotional health.

Road and Track Safety

Given that light rail vehicles run on tracks which are shared with other road users and cannot be totally partitioned, we minimise potential safety hazards by widening platforms, providing additional lighting at junctions within the MTR boundary, and placing zigzag barriers to guide pedestrians to watch for approaching traffic before crossing the tracks. Continuous efforts are also made to refresh drivers' safety awareness and educate the local community on safety around the MTR Light Rail and Bus system.

Emergency Situations

To strengthen our preparedness and further enhance communication and collaboration with relevant parties in response to emergencies, we participate in major exercises with the emergency services involving different scenarios. To strengthen the protection of passengers who may experience cardiac arrest, we have installed around 300 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) at concourses and platforms of all heavy rail stations and Hong Kong West Kowloon Station of the High-Speed Rail (Hong Kong Section).

Customer Education

To minimise safety risks to our customers, we employ various means to remind customers to be alert and avoid using mobile phones on escalators, stand clear of edges, and use a lift when travelling with prams and bulky luggage. Related safety messages are disseminated and communicated to passengers through our Safety Ambassadors in red uniforms at designated stations and our safety reminder announcements.

Safety Awareness in the Community

We regularly engage with community partners to raise safety awareness and promote safe and courteous behaviour while travelling with us. Safety tips when travelling on the rail network are disseminated to students and children through interactive plays at schools, the fun-filled "MTR Safety Experience Zone" at Tsing Yi Station and through the popular MTR Safety chessboard game. We also collaborated with community partners to engage the elderly on safety tips on the MTR.

Railway Operations

To lower the accident rate, we have stepped up our efforts to enhance and promote passenger safety and escalator safety at stations, such as:

• Conducted trial of reducing escalator speed at black spot stations;
• Posted giant wall stickers promoting escalator safety beside the selected escalators;
• Developed newsfeed to promote safety message at black spot stations through MTR Mobile;
• Broadcast safety messages through PA systems at stations;
• Affixed “Mind your step” label on the black spot staircases; and
• Affixed staircase Nose Tile Yellow Warning label at the black spot staircases.

Managed and Investment Properties

Our Hong Kong Property Business Unit continues to identify and mitigate potential safety hazards in our properties and actively engages with customers, residents and tenants to build safety awareness in the community.

Some of our ongoing safety initiatives include:

• Safety drills at our residential estates and shopping malls;
• Induction and refresher fire safety training sessions for our tenants to refresh their fire safety knowledge;
• Publication of safety bulletins to disseminate safety messages to our residents and tenants;
• Regular fire safety audits on our food and beverage tenants to ensure compliance and improve work practices to minimise fire hazards;
• Regular inspection of all emergency escape routes in our properties to ensure that they are unobstructed and that fire doors are closed properly;
• Checking electrical installations inside the shops of all our mall tenants to reduce the risks of electrical fires; and
• Annual crisis drills for the Investment Property Department to validate current practices on crowd management and evacuation plans.

Safety best practices are actively shared across MTR and reinforced with our contractors and subcontractors. We ensure high risk activities are identified with a proper method statement and risk assessment to raise staff and contractor safety awareness and manage work-related risks. We also implement safety control measures to minimise or eliminate, where practicable, the risks before the commencement of works.

We continue to deepen the safety culture at MTR through structured training and knowledge sharing platforms. All managers at MTR are required to take a mandatory safety management training course, which aims at fostering a positive safety culture and safety leadership. All new joiners attend appropriate safety training based on the needs of individual roles and business units and functions. For the Hong Kong Transport Services Business Unit in particular, all new joiners are required to take a "Safety First Quality Always Workshop" to highlight the importance of safety in railway operations through case studies and group discussions. Corporate Safety Campaign, our annual signature event, includes a series of activities such as online quizzes, site visits, forums and seminars, safety award and safety heroes scheme to refresh our employees and contractors on the safety-first principle and safety information, and recognise their contributions.

Every year, we implement safety plans tailored to the latest safety topics in the industry to raise the safety awareness of our employees and contractors through various campaigns and communication initiatives. We also work closely with our contractors and joint venture partners to uphold the highest safety standards at all times.

We conduct regular customer research programmes to keep abreast of emerging service needs and develop improvement plans to enhance user experience with an objective to ensure every ride with MTR is pleasant and amiable.

Customer Experience

We make use of technological solutions to provide high-quality services, including keeping our customers well-informed of any incidents in a prompt and timely manner. In addition to the LCD information display systems on station platforms, we have developed mobile apps to supplement existing services and facilities. For example, the MTR Mobile and High Speed Rail apps offer features to facilitate passengers to enjoy more personalised and informative journeys. We also organise courtesy campaigns to promote positive passenger behaviours for a more comfortable experience throughout our network. Our “MTR · Care” app provides smart functions to facilitate the travel needs of the elderly and passengers in special need with a simple and easy-to-use interface. It enables users to check the barrier-free facilities information of MTR stations and the “Simplified Trip Planner” function is enhanced with real time lift status information.

In addition, we carefully plan the expansion of our network through new projects and maintain our existing infrastructure by upgrading our assets over time. The Asset Management Manual used by the Hong Kong Transport Services Business Unit outlines system requirements for asset management in alignment with best practices. Our internal asset management system, RailASSURE, is certified with ISO 55001 asset management system standard and offers details on equipment management, work management, maintenance planning, budgets and analysis.

To create a more vibrant and vivid passenger travelling experience along our extensive network, we enhance MTR journeys by including attractive art installations in our station concourses and platforms through “Art in MTR” initiative.

Enhancing Accessibility

We make every effort to create a seamless and inclusive transportation network. We have undertaken a number of improvement works to provide fit-for-purpose and easy-access facilities in our stations, trains and properties for the elderly, passengers with disabilities and those in need. These facilities include the provision of additional escalators, external lifts, stair lifts, wide gates, wheelchair aids, portable ramps, accessible toilets for mobility impaired passengers; and braille signs, tactile station layout maps, guide paths and dynamic route maps for visually impaired passengers.

We have identified ageing population as a megatrend we need to consider for the future of our railway operations and property businesses. Anticipating a significant increase in the percentage of elderly passengers within our customer demographic by 2030 and beyond, a cross-divisional taskforce has been established to steer and respond to their specific needs. We launched the “Caring for Dementia” programme to assist the police in locating missing persons through the automatic fare collection system of the MTR network. After registering the Octopus numbers of the missing persons with dementia or elderly persons in our system, alerts will be sent to our staff when they enter the MTR network with the registered Octopus.

We have made 14 babycare rooms at our interchange stations available to provide a more comfortable environment for nursing mothers. All newly planned stations will be designed with babycare rooms. For stations without a designated breastfeeding area, private rooms can be arranged through our station staff. We will continue to extend the provision of breastfeeding areas across all MTR Malls and stations where possible, making MTR a family-friendly network.

We have been supporting the Government’s “Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities” since 2012 to offer concessionary fares to senior citizens and eligible individuals with disabilities. It extends to aged 60 to 64 using JoyYou Card with effect from 27 February 2022. We also introduce various fare promotions and offer ongoing fare concessions every year to customers from different walks of life, e.g., the MTR Student Travel Scheme and HK$2 discount from the MTR Fare Saver on the next MTR ride from the Designated MTR Stations, early bird discount promotion, interchange discount with Green Minibuses, etc.