Hong Kong – EMSD investigates lift incident at Seaview Mansion, Mid-levels
EMSD investigates lift incident at Seaview Mansion, Mid-levels
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A spokesman for the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) said today (April 9) that the EMSD is investigating a lift incident that occurred at Seaview Mansion in Mid-Levels yesterday (April 8).
The EMSD received at around 5pm yesterday a report about a lift entrapment and suspected rope breakage incident occurred at Seaview Mansion in the morning of the same day. A passenger was trapped in the lift and suffered a sprained foot, and was rescued by firemen and sent to hospital for treatment. The concerned lift has ceased operation after the incident.
The EMSD officers conducted an on-site investigation this morning. Preliminary findings revealed that one of the three flat suspension belts of the concerned lift was broken and the lift car stopped near the third floor. To ensure public safety, the EMSD inspected the remaining two lifts of the same type in the building and confirmed that they are safe to operate.
The lift concerned is maintained by Schindler Lifts (Hong Kong) Ltd. The EMSD has requested the company to submit an incident report within seven working days. The investigation of the cause of the incident by the EMSD is on-going.
BD continues to follow up on incident of fallen canopy at Po On Building
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The subject building is 57 years old. The BD issued a statutory notice under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) to the owners’ corporation (OC) in respect of the common parts of the building in 2014. The BD learnt that the OC had applied for the building maintenance subsidy schemes from the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the applications were approved by the URA in March 2021. The registered inspector appointed by the OC submitted a prescribed inspection report to the BD in March 2023, which recommended that prescribed repair works would be required. The consultant concerned is now preparing tender documents for the repair works and is expected to discuss with the OC on the tendering for a contractor in late July.
Although the concerned building has been inspected, the statutory notice under the MBIS will not be considered as complied with until the repair works have been completed. Pursuant to section 40(1BC) of the Buildings Ordinance, any person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a statutory notice served on him or her, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine at level 5 ($50,000 at present) and to imprisonment for one year, as well as a further fine of $5,000 for each day that the offence has continued. The BD will continue to follow up with the OC and urge for their commencement of repair works as soon as possible. The BD will also consider taking enforcement action if necessary so as to ensure due compliance with the statutory notice and the safety of the occupants and the public.
The BD emphasised that it is the responsibility of owners to ensure their buildings are free of UBWs and no UBWs will be carried out. Timely repair and maintenance of private buildings is the basic responsibility of owners and building safety problems could not be sustainably and effectively resolved by the BD’s enforcement action alone. Without receiving statutory notices under the MBIS, owners may also arrange prescribed inspections and repair as well as removal of UBWs for their buildings/premises at any time on voluntary basis in accordance with the standards and procedures of the MBIS. The Government will offer assistance and support to responsible owners and take enforcement actions to tackle dilapidation of buildings.
Crane incident at construction site on Chi Shin Street, Tseung Kwan O
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Task force on investigation of Hong Kong Coliseum serious incident discusses causes of incident
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SLW responds to incident in Children’s Residential Home
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Hong Kong – BD continues to follow up on incident of fallen canopy at Po On Building
Upon notification by the Police yesterday (July 2) of fallen concrete from Po On Building on 30-36 Mong Kok Road, the Buildings Department (BD) officers were immediately deployed to carry out a site inspection in the afternoon of the same day. Officers at the scene found that a canopy had fallen from the external wall on the 16th floor of the building. Some individual canopies and projections on the external wall were also found to be loose. No obvious danger to the overall building structure was noted. With the assistance from the Fire Services Department, the loose items on the external walls were removed. After checking the records, the BD confirmed today (July 3) that the subject canopy was unauthorised building works (UBWs) belonging to a domestic unit on the 16th floor of the building.Hong Kong – Crane incident at construction site on Chi Shin Street, Tseung Kwan O
A spokesman for the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) today (December 28) said that the Government was deeply concerned about a crane incident occurred at a construction site on Chi Shin Street in Tseung Kwan O. The contractor and sub-contractors were requested to suspend the operation of the crane immediately and cordon off the site where the crane located to safeguard the workers’ safety.
At about 9.45am this morning, the jib of a crane while operating on the roof of a building at the construction site of the Immigration Headquarters on Chi Shin Street in Tseung Kwan O suddenly lowered down slowly. It then stopped and rested on top of an external wall of the building. There was no casualty in the incident.
After the incident, the ArchSD and the Development Bureau (DEVB) summoned the management of the contractor to provide an account of the causes, and to discuss the follow-up actions and improvement measures. According to the site inspection and the footage of the monitoring system of the contractor, the incident is preliminary suspected to be related to mechanical malfunction. The ArchSD is reviewing the inspection and maintenance records for the roof crane and will carry out a detailed investigation with the Labour Department.
As the contractor was involved in a fatal accident at the same construction site in May this year, the DEVB has ordered it to arrange for an independent safety audit and submit a report within two weeks. After reviewing the report, the DEVB will take appropriate follow up actions in accordance with the public works procurement and monitoring mechanism. The DEVB has also requested works departments to step up inspections of similar roof cranes at public works sites.Hong Kong – Task force on investigation of Hong Kong Coliseum serious incident discusses causes of incident
A task force led by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) held its third meeting today (August 12) to discuss the causes of a serious incident occurring at the Hong Kong Coliseum (HKC).
The task force arranged earlier a cherry picker for experts to inspect closely at a higher position the installations suspended at the top of the stage. Besides, as the stage was dismantled, the task force had arranged the inspection and examination of all the hoisted installations which had been lowered down.
In the meeting, the task force, after deliberate study of the information gathered at this moment, found that the snapping of wire rope was caused by metal fatigue according to laboratory examination result. However, further investigations are needed to find out the causes of metal fatigue. In addition, the hanging system of panels and its workmanship may also be the causes for the falling down of the LED panels leading to the serious incident at the HKC. The task force will conduct further investigations in this direction.
Meanwhile, the LCSD will hand over the arena tomorrow as scheduled to the next hirer for holding concerts. The hirer has also agreed to comply and make necessary arrangements to fulfil the three short-term measures announced earlier to ensure the safety of performers, staff members and audiences. The measures are (1) Revisit and enhance safety of their stage design and their brought-in mechanical devices and to ensure the safety of all working staff, performers and persons attending the venue; (2) Cease the use of suspended mechanical devices involving swinging, rotation or carrying of persons; and (3) Conduct daily inspection of the mechanical devices mentioned in item (1) by a competent person whom LCSD agrees to assure safe working.
Hong Kong – SLW responds to incident in Children’s Residential Home
In response to the submission of an Independent Review Committee (IRC) review report by the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC) on its Children’s Residential Home (CRH), the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, today (January 26) said that the incident revealed severe deficiencies in extensive areas of the HKSPC, from daily operations, supervision to staff training of the CRH, breaching requirements of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and falling short of public expectations.
The Government noted that the HKSPC had accepted the IRC’s recommendations and pledged to take a series of actions, including replacing members of the senior management and enhancing its corporate governance and daily supervision, with the commitment to rebuild public confidence. The SWD has demanded the HKSPC to implement all the recommendations as soon as possible, and will closely monitor the effectiveness of the measures after implementation in order to protect the well-being of children. Moreover, the SWD will continue to keep in view the outcome and recommendations of the IRC’s review on the HKSPC’s other services, as a basis to consider whether the organisation is still fit to provide SWD-subsidised services in future.
During the process of handling the incident, the Government has also identified room for improvement in the SWD’s regulatory mechanism. The SWD will adopt a risk-based approach, and enhance inspections with extended breadth and depth to ensure the child care service providers meet the service quality standard and statutory requirements, with effective internal control and monitoring mechanism in place.
“We will invite the Working Group on Children Protection of the Commission on Children to supervise a review on children welfare services, covering the residential child care and related services, with an aim to complete the review by March next year,” Dr Law said.
In addition, the Government will take forward the legislative work on a mandatory reporting mechanism for child abuse cases, under which practitioners in the professions subject to mandatory reporting obligations will receive appropriate training to enhance their capacity for early identification and handling of child abuse cases. The target is to introduce the bill into the Legislative Council (LegCo) in the first half of next year. The Government is also considering how to take forward the recommendations as set out in the Law Reform Commission’s report on causing or allowing the death or serious harm of a child or vulnerable adult published last September.
“The Government attaches great importance to protect the best interests of children and firmly believes that every child has a right to protection against harm and abuse. This requires the concerted efforts of the Government, related sectors as well as the entire community to work together to achieve this goal. Special tribute should be paid to various welfare organisations with children service units for their offer of assistance and essential helping hands by seconding or recommending personnel to deal with the untoward situation,” Dr Law said.
The Labour and Welfare Bureau is prepared to attend a special meeting of the LegCo Panel on Welfare Services to brief Members and harness collective wisdom and insights to improve welfare services for children.
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