Ms Chan used to walk to her office and home every day. Unfortunately, she accidentally slipped on the staircase of a flyover on the way to work last Wednesday when the red rainstorm warning signal was hoisted. She was injured and unable to move, and was finally taken to the hospital. 

Ms Chan knew that she had the protection of employees’ compensation insurance, but she was not familiar with the coverage. She thought that employees’ compensation insurance only covers accidents that happen while travelling to the office by public transport when the black rainstorm warning signal is hoisted. Therefore, she did not file a claim with her company and instead settled the medical expenses by herself. 

In fact, Ms Chan’s accident was under the coverage of the existing Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (the “Ordinance”), so she could actually have filed an employees’ compensation claim with her company. Put simply, an accident happening to an employee shall be deemed to arise out of and in the course of his/her employment if it happens to the employee when, within the duration of a gale warning, or of a rainstorm warning, he/she is travelling between his place of residence and his/her place of work, by a direct route within a period of 4 hours before the time of commencement of his/her working hours for that day or to his/her place of residence, within a period of 4 hours after the time of cessation of his/her working hours for that day. Normally, tropical cyclone warning signals No. 8 or above or red and black rainstorm warning signals are the named circumstances covered by the Ordinance.

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