Hong Kong police are investigating six suspected cases of false documents related to safety scaffolding nets during building renovations, while the city’s buildings authorities are set to unveil stricter regulations within this week.
This probe follows the devastating blaze at Tai Po's Wang Fuk Court last month, where non-fire-resistant netting was identified as a factor in the fire’s rapid spread, which engulfed seven of the estate's eight blocks and claimed at least 159 lives.
The estates currently being investigated are Baguio Villa in Pok Fu Lam, Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan, Fortress Garden in North Point, Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, Ching Lai Court in Cheung Sha Wan and Marigold Mansions in Hung Hom.
No arrests have been made so far.
The Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau also continued to extract concrete core samples from five affected buildings in Wang Fuk Courton on Monday.
As of 5 pm on Monday, scaffold nets had been removed from the external walls of 227 private buildings, including two cases completed by government contractors, following a Buildings Department order. Work on three remaining cases, in which the department has accepted an extension, is underway and is expected to be completed within this week.
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The department is also expected to announce a new set of arrangements within this week that will require scaffold nets used at construction sites to be sampled on-site and certified as compliant with the relevant standards prior to installation, so that the relevant external wall work can resume as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the Labour Department continues to inspect fire protection facilities and the fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding to ensure the occupational safety of workers. As of 4 pm on Monday, the department had inspected 351 construction sites, issued a total of 180 written warnings and 96 improvement notices, and had taken out 25 prosecutions.
Contact the writer at stacyshi@chinadailyhk.com
