Coroner calls for ban on foam
The Mei Foo fire inquest coroner called yesterday for the urgent withdrawal of all polyurethane foam products.
The inflammable foam contributed to the death toll of nine in the Mei Foo Sun Chuen blaze last year. Coroner Ian Thomas said the threat it posed was no longer a matter of academic debate.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, he recommended Hong Kong be brought into line with countries which had banned the foam.
'Such urgent action would show to the relatives of the deceased their loved ones did not die in vain,' Mr Thomas said.
He said Mei Foo had shown how destructive a fire could be when the foam was present. Officials should 'co-operate as a matter of urgency to have all such furniture and mattresses withdrawn from the market in Hong Kong'.
He made 22 recommendations aimed at transforming the prevention and fighting of fires.
Better publicity was needed to educate people and encourage them to take part in fire drills.
This was particularly important in relation to smoke doors, which had been left open. Mr Thomas said it was his most important recommendation that the public learn the doors were for their protection and were not 'an obstacle in daily life'.
He also recommended improved communication between firefighters.
Senior fire officers at the inquest had also appeared 'ignorant' of certain firefighting techniques used in other countries, he said.
Improved international liaison could help educate firefighters.
The fire, on April 8 last year, spread more quickly because a sofa in the flat where it started contained polyurethane foam.
Although the absence of the foam would not necessarily have prevented the fire, Mr Thomas said it would be 'difficult to accept that the same number of people would have died'.
Hong Kong lacks laws to stop use of the foam, which generates toxic fumes when ignited, despite 10 years of Consumer Council efforts.
The Government has been under attack for ignoring warnings on the foam.
Hong Kong Furniture and Decoration Trade Association chairman Teo Boon-teong said meetings with government officials had stopped before the fire and the Government 'could not sort out which department should be responsible'.
Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee of the Liberal Party said the Government had reacted too slowly and that no one had taken responsibility. 'Every time we ask who is responsible, no one claims it,' she said.
James To Kun-sun of the Democratic Party said the Government should strike a balance between social burdens and the need to ban the material.
'The poorer the families, the more popular the [cheap] products,' he said.
