Social Inclusion

Managing Safety

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 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 our safety goals for continuous improvement in safety performance.

• Safety Management System and the Corporate Strategic Safety Management Framework

  Our Corporate Safety Policy and the Corporate Safety Governance 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.

  In 2023, a Corporate Safety Management Framework (“CSMF”) has been established and implemented corporate-wide to enable us to deliver on our corporate safety commitments. The Framework specifies the governance and management arrangements of the Corporation’s safety globally to ensure a coherent and consistent approach across the Corporation. It delineates the safety roles and responsibilities, sets out the Corporate Safety Standards (“CSS”) and provides the Recommended Means of Compliance (“RMoC”) to guide business units, subsidiaries and associates on the “how” in terms of conformance. It also aims to foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning on safety, leveraging our global experience and best practices.

  The Corporate Safety Standards (“CSS”) across eight core elements of the Corporate Safety Management Model. The Standards provide objective based requirements for an effective safety management system while allowing for local adaptation to unique operational and regulatory environments. The Recommended Means of Compliance (“RMoC”) based on international best practices as well as MTR’s operational experience worldwide provide guidance as to how the Corporate Safety Standards can be met. In principle, each Corporate Safety Standard is paired with an associated RMoC.

  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 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. Examples of our ISO 45001 certifications 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.

  In addition, 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.

  

  Read More

  Corporate Safety Policy

  

• Standards and Procedures

  In addition to our Corporate Safety Standards (“CSS”) which specify the objective based requirements for local safety management system implementation, we have various sets of safety documents in individual business units stating management's commitment to workplace safety. These documents include safety rules, procedures, and work instructions for managing risks, which are formulated as necessary, regularly reviewed and communicated to all employees.

• Corporate Strategic Safety Plan

  Every four years, we review and formulate a Corporate Strategic Safety Plan (“the Plan”) that provides strategic direction directing the safety efforts of the whole Corporation to address upcoming safety challenges. Launched in 2021, the latest Plan sets the path in safety under the “Transforming the Future” Corporate Strategy and promotes the aspiration that “Everyone is a safety leader”, aiming for zero harm to all stakeholders. Stressing safety is everyone’s responsibility and teamwork. The Plan lists out the Safety Aspirations, Goals and Strategic Focus Areas to guide, enabling a systematic way of driving continuous safety improvements across our businesses in Hong Kong, Mainland China and abroad towards the safety aspirations.

  

• Organisation and Management Accountability

  The Corporate Safety Management Committee (“CSMC”) establishes safety policies and strategies and exercise governance on the safety performance of the entire Corporation, and to review the effectiveness of the Corporation’s safety management system (SMS) constituted by the Business Units’ SMSs in identifying and mitigating safety risks to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).

  

• Audit and System Assurance

  Our system safety assurance process has guided the design, construction and commissioning of our new rail lines, adhering to international standards such as the European Standard EN50126. We integrate, verify and validate safety requirements through both top-down and bottom-up approaches along the system lifecycle, including deterministic and probabilistic safety assessments, safety integrity level assessments for safety-related and safety-critical systems, and suitable levels of independence on verification and validation. We employ independent safety assessors to check the adequacy and effectiveness of the development processes of our safety critical systems. This robust system safety assurance process ensures that safety risks are duly assessed and managed as low as reasonably practicable.

  We have established structured audit and assurance programmes to ensure effective implementation of our safety management systems with the intended objectives and to identify opportunities for improvement. The Corporation has also adopted the Three Lines of Defence (“LoD”) model built in with appropriate levels of independence to achieve the safety assurance required:

  • First LoD: Day-to-day line management supervision and checking at business unit level.
  • Second LoD: Checks and balances conducted for the Executive Committee by an independent Director.
  • Third LoD: Internal audit reviews or specific checking on the first and second LoD to assure the Chief Executive Officer or the Board of the effectiveness of the first two lines.

  Risk Management

  We proactively identify and register safety hazards, assessing and mitigating associated risks to a level that is as low as reasonably practical. Working closely with the Government, we monitor public health 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. Risk management and control are regularly reviewed, adjusted and prioritised as needed.

  Our Corporate Crisis Management Team (“CMT”), consisting the Executive Directorate and Executive Managers, tracks the latest corporate crisis, plans strategic actions and disseminates corporate crisis-related information. Regular scenario-based desktop exercises allow CMT members to practise 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 also benchmark our performance against other transport operators and learn through participation 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”).

  Read More

  COMET Benchmarking Result

  

• Asset Management

  Integrating asset management into our safety risk management practices, we ensure compliance and enhance the effective management of safety risks through continuous improvement of 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.

• Competence Management

  We have developed a competence management model to systematically assess the competence requirements of our employees. The model aids in employee selection and placement to ensure they are capable of managing risks and performing their duties safely. We also evaluate the competence of our contractors during the selection and review process.

  To maximise safety and service performance, our Human Factors Programme draws on behavioural patterns to ensure that the consistent and correct actions under normal circumstances and quick and appropriate responses in emergencies. In many areas of our operations, we adopt the “Pointing and Calling” procedure to effectively reduce human errors by having employee point and verbalise the action to be taken.

• Safety Culture

  Safety leadership is central to fostering a safety culture at MTR and effectively executing our safety management plan. We create an ecosystem for the regular exchange of best safety practices and proactive reporting on safety hazards among our global employees through various internal channels, platforms and portals. For example, the 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, managed residential properties, office buildings and training centres to allow timely responses.

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

  We maintain open and ongoing communication on safety practices and performance with stakeholders to:

  • enhance understanding of corporate safety requirements and performance through sharing of information, education, influence, and collaboration;
  • establish areas of cooperation and involvement by 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 site teams to ensure adherence to the highest safety standards at all construction sites.

Customer Health and Safety

• 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, including:

  • Stepping up the frequency of our cleansing and disinfection procedures;
  • Applying anti-bacterial coatings to handrails and conducting regular extra disinfection;
  • Deploying “Little Whale” and “Big Whale” cleaning robots for deep cleaning and decontamination at stations;
  • Increasing filter cleansing and air intake frequency for better air flow and ventilation at stations;
  • Installing contactless proximity sensor buttons in over 100 lifts across our stations and facilities; and
  • Adopting robotic cleaning technologies for thorough cleaning and decontamination at stations.

  We extended the smart toilet management system, which provides passengers with digital display information on toilet cubicle availability and indoor air quality, to toilets in Hong Kong, Central, Admiralty, Exhibition Centre and Tsim Sha Tsui stations.

• Heavy Rail, Light Rail and Bus

  We continuously identify new opportunities to enhance 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 enhance the passenger service and safety, we are installing Automatic Platform Gates (“APGs”) at our stations. APGs or Platform Screen Doors are already in place for all heavy rail lines except Lo Wu, Mong Kok East and University Stations. We also established the Suicide Prevention Team and the Suicide Prevention roving team at critical stations, collaborating with The Samaritan Befrienders to set up Emotional First Aid counters at selected East Rail Line stations to provide information on emotional health.

  Road and Track Safety

  Light rail vehicles and bus are required to share tracks with other road users, so we minimise safety hazards by widening platforms, providing additional lighting at junctions within the MTR boundary, and placing zigzag barriers to guide pedestrians in crossing safely. Other examples of the safety improvement projects include ramp edges at platforms, convex mirrors, arrow signs, easy mats, improved lighting, additional stop assistants, safety leaflets distribution, and yellow flashing bollards with LED lights and voice alerts. We continuously 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, improve communication and collaboration with relevant parties during 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). We have also arranged training courses for our station staff to learn or refresh their knowledge to use AEDs and apply Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.

  Customer Education

  To minimise safety risks for our customers, we employ various means to remind them to stay alert and avoid using mobile phones on escalators, stand clear of edges, and use lifts for prams and bulky luggage. Safety messages are communicated by our red-uniformed Safety Ambassadors at designated stations and through safety announcements.

  Read More

  T Chai transforms into Safety Guardian Video!

  

  Emergency Facilities in MTR Video

  

  Travel Safely Every Day in the MTR Booklet

  

• Safety Awareness in the Community

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

  Railway Operations

  We are dedicated to ensuring passenger safety and has been actively promoting escalator safety awareness through various channels for many years. Our Escalator Safety Task Force continued to promote the importance of riding escalators safely to prevent accidents, including opening promotional information booths at stations and launching awareness campaigns. We continued to step up our efforts to promote escalator safety messages, including school talks, recruitment of elderly caring ambassadors, launching related social media video to promote escalator safety and enhance public awareness while travelling on escalators.

  To reduce accidents, we enhance passenger safety and escalator safety at stations by:

  • Conducting trial of reducing escalator speed at black spot stations;
  • Posting giant wall stickers promoting escalator safety near escalators;
  • Sharing safety messages through MTR Mobile and PA systems at stations; and
  • Affixing “mind your step” and Yellow Warning labels on the black spot staircases.

  Managed and Investment Properties

  Our Hong Kong Property Business Unit actively identifies and mitigates potential safety hazards in our properties while engaging with customers, residents and tenants to build safety awareness in the community.

  Ongoing safety initiatives include:

  • Safety drills at our residential estates and shopping malls;
  • Fire safety training sessions for our tenants;
  • 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 emergency escape routes and fire doors in properties to ensure that they are unobstructed;
  • Checking electrical installations in 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.

Staff and Contractor Safety

Safety best practices are actively shared across MTR with our contractors and subcontractors. High-risk activities are identified with proper method statements and risk assessments to raise safety awareness and manage work-related risks. Safety control measures are implemented to minimise or eliminate 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 complete safety management training for safety leadership, while all new joiners attend role-specific safety training. 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.

Our annual signature event, Corporate Safety Campaign, includes a series of activities such as online quizzes, site visits, forums and seminars, safety awards and safety heroes scheme to reinforce our employees and contractors on the safety-first principle and recognise their contributions.

The “Strive for Zero” safety campaign, launched in 2023, continues for Extension Projects, aiming at zero harm, injuries and fatalities. This campaign encourages everyone to walk the talk on safety, starting with top management through safety forums and monthly “Safety Breaks” for workers.

Every year, we implement safety plans tailored to the latest safety topics in the industry to raise the safety awareness among employees and contractors through various campaigns and communication initiatives, such as the Millionaire safety quiz competitions for Operations Projects Department and Capital Works. We also work closely with our contractors and joint venture partners to always uphold the highest safety standards. We conduct joint drill exercises with emergency services departments, to enhance the coordination and efficiency in handling railway emergencies.

Customer Experience and Accessibility

We conduct regular customer research to identify emerging service needs and develop improvement plans to ensure every ride with MTR is pleasant and amiable.

• Customer Experience

  We leverage technology to enhance service quality and keep customers promptly informed of incidents. In addition to the LCD information display systems on station platforms, our mobile apps, such as the MTR Mobile and High Speed Rail apps, offer personalised features for better travel experiences. We also organise courtesy campaigns to promote positive passenger behaviours throughout our network.

  Our “MTR · Care” app provides smart functions to facilitate the travel needs of the elderly and special-needs passengers with an easy-to-use interface, providing the functions below:

  Function	Target Audience
  Trip Planner (Simplified Version)	Elderly
  Barrier-free Facilities	All passengers in need
  In-Station Navigation (Function improvement)	Visually Impaired individuals
  Wheelchair Portable Ramp Booking (New Function)	Wheelchair users
  Trial “In-station Assistance” (New Function)	Hearing-impaired individuals

  In addition, we ensure our assets are reliable and accessible through continual railway asset maintenance and renewal works to ensure a smooth and comfortable travelling environment for everyone. We carefully plan the network expansion and maintain our existing infrastructure by upgrading our assets over time. The Asset Management Manual 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 standards, detailing equipment management, work management, maintenance planning, budgets and analysis.

  To enrich passengers’ travelling experience, we enhance MTR journeys by including attractive art installations in our station through the “Art in MTR” initiative.

  Read More

  Art in MTR

  

• Enhancing Accessibility

  We strive to create a seamless and inclusive transportation network with fit-for-purpose and easy-access facilities for the elderly, passengers with disabilities and those in need. Improvements include 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. All newly constructed stations will be designed as accessible stations including barrier-free entrances, wide gates, accessible toilets and baby care rooms, to provide universal accessible mobility for all passengers.

  To facilitate the way-finding of our elderly customers, we have rolled out various age-friendly initiatives, including giant lift signage, giant exit signs, giant toilet signs in stations and overhead exit codes displayed at station entrance. In addition, new passenger information display systems have been equipped at the platforms of the Light Rail to enable passengers to obtain the arrival information of the light rail vehicles which synchronous with our “Next Train” app.

  Recognising ageing population as a megatrend and anticipating a significant increase in elderly passengers within our customer demographic by 2030 and beyond, a cross-divisional taskforce has been established to address the specific needs of elderly passengers. We launched the “Caring for Dementia” programme to assist the police in locating missing persons through the automatic fare collection system. By registering the Octopus numbers of persons with dementia or elderly persons, alerts will be sent to our staff when they enter the MTR network with the registered Octopus.

  We have also added 14 babycare rooms at interchange stations for nursing mothers, with plans for all new stations to include babycare rooms. Private rooms can be arranged at stations without designated areas through our station staff. We will continue to extend the provision of babycare rooms areas across all MTR Malls and stations where possible, making MTR a family-friendly network.

  Read More

  Babycare Rooms

  

Fare Concessions

We provide various fare concessions and promotions to customers of different travelling needs, e.g. concessionary fares for elderly, Persons with Disabilities, students and children, Early Bird Discount promotion, interchange discount with Green Minibuses, etc. Besides, we have supported the Government in its initiative to subsidise local elderly and eligible persons with disabilities in its implementation to help promote universal mobility.

Read More

MTR Fare Savers

MTR Student Travel Scheme

Embracing Diversity and Inclusion

The Corporation is an equal opportunity employer and abides by relevant legislative requirements to ensure our workplace is free from discrimination or workplace harassment on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, family status, religion, political beliefs or other characteristics. In addition to our on-going efforts to embrace diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion, we publish our annual gender equality-related information covering Hong Kong and overseas business. For details, please refer to our Gender Equality Data.

We regularly review the Corporation’s Code of Conduct to ensure compliance with corporate and regulatory requirements. All employees are required to complete a mandatory training on relevant legislations. Aspects of diversity and inclusion were integrated into a number of Corporate Development Programmes. We have set strict expectations for all staff members to treat all their colleagues with respect and dignity. Employees are encouraged to raise concerns or grievances confidentially without fear of reprisal through designated whistle-blowing channels. Our recruitment, reward, promotion and development decisions are based solely on occupational requirements, qualifications and job performance.

We ensure our Board has a majority of Independent Non-executive Directors while maintain gender diversity. Our Board Diversity Policy clearly states our commitment to achieve a balance of skills, experience and diversity of perspectives for effective execution of the Corporation’s business strategy. We have linked sustainability factors, such as gender diversity, to senior management remuneration as part of our commitment to responsible business practices.

The Company has also adopted a new Workforce Diversity Policy in early compliance with the requirements of the revised Corporate Governance Code.

The Corporation is also piloting a one-year youth placement pilot programme “EmpowerZ” to support the employment for people with disabilities or from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The Corporation’s Gender Equity Network continued to organise awareness building events to provide psychological safety of gender related discussion during International Women’s Day and International Men’s Day, engaging our colleagues and to further promote awareness of inclusion and wellness.

Read More

Gender Equality Data

Whistle-blowing Policy

Board Diversity Policy

Code of Conduct

Workforce Diversity Policy

EmpowerZ Youth Placement Pilot Programme

Community Investment Programmes

Our Environmental & Social Responsibility Policy clearly states our commitment to positively impact the communities we serve. Through our “Community Connect” initiative, we offer programmes for all age groups while enhancing the liveability of our city and foster a sustainable Hong Kong.

We actively invest in community programmes benefitting different social segments, such as children, youth, and the elderly, to address their evolving needs. We also regularly engaging with seniors to appreciate their contributions. Since 2021, the Corporation has been working closely with social partners to give retired train elements a second life under the “Legacy Train Revitalisation Programme” to serve as educational and rehabilitation uses.

The Corporation launched the ESG Project Allies programme since 2023. Together with the non-governmental organisations and social enterprises, we co-create various initiatives for beneficiaries that address the four diversity focus areas of disability inclusion, ethnic diversity, gender equity, and intergenerational relationship.

We support the communities through our “Art in MTR” initiative, integrating art into our station architecture and facilitating artists to stage their art-related activities or displays in our stations and malls, acting as community art galleries to enhance the travel experience. We strive to contribute our skills and assets to create a supportive and vibrant city where everyone can enjoy a positive and engaging lifestyle.

Read More

Environmental & Social Responsibility Policy

Community Connect

EmpowerZ Youth Placement Pilot Programme

Art in MTR

Staff Volunteering

The Corporation is closely connected to our communities and we are eager to support the sustainable development of our city. Our employees regularly organise and participate in community services and volunteer activities. In support of the philanthropy of our employees, our “More Time Reaching Community” (“MTRC”) Scheme provides funding and support for our staff volunteers to organise community projects. These volunteering activities are open to our current staff and their families and friends as well as MTR retirees.

Read More

More Time Reaching Community Scheme