George Ling Kam-hoi, assistant director of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, said the move was intended to reflect the severity of the offences.

There had been 23 prosecutions in the past 10 years for breaches of lift safety requirements. Five were serious and the offenders were fined between HK$500 and HK$5,000.

'It is evident that the level of fines are not commensurate with the severity of the offences and therefore cannot impose the necessary punitive and deterrent effects,' Ling said.

Lift and escalator engineers will have to be registered professional engineers in suitable disciplines with at least two years' working experience.

A registration system will be introduced under which they will have to re-register every five years.

There are 5,000 lift and escalator workers who have to undergo training every five years.

'Since there is no registration system for workers at the moment, contractors will be held responsible when accidents happen,' Ling said. 'But with the registration system, workers might be held responsible if evidence shows they should be blamed for causing an accident.'

The vice-chairman of the Hong Kong General Union of Lifts and Escalator Employees, Im Kit-hung, said some workers were worried about having to take a written examination to renew their registration.

'Some older workers are very good when repairing lifts with screwdrivers, but very bad when using pen and paper to talk about lift repairs. They might lose their jobs if they fail to renew their registration,' Im said.

'Also, what kind of penalties will workers face if they are found to be in breach of the ordinance? The penalty proposed in the consultation should be only for contractors.'

The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said in a report in January that equipment faults were the main cause of lift failures.