Families weep at HK$1.4m in fines for ICC deaths
Families of some of the six workers killed when a platform plunged down a lift shaft at the International Commerce Centre last year wept as a magistrate imposed fines of HK$1.4 million on three companies found guilty of 49 offences relating to their deaths.
'It's unfair,' one relative shouted in Kwun Tong Court.
Sanfield Building Contractors, Wang Wai Construction Works and Well Achieve Construction Company had earlier pleaded guilty to 24, 13 and 12 offences respectively.
Principal contractor Sanfield, which has 101 previous convictions, was fined HK$936,000. Wang Wai - the contractor responsible on the day of the fatal accident - was fined HK$376,000. Well Achieve Construction was fined HK$96,000.
Unionist and lawmaker Ip Wai-ming said the average fine of HK$30,000 per summons did not reflect the seriousness of the contractors' negligence. The summonses, issued by the Labour Department, carry a maximum fine of HK$500,000 and six months' imprisonment.
On September 13 last year, six workers collecting construction waste were killed when the work platform they were using on the 27th floor plunged 17 floors down a lift shaft in the 118-storey ICC in West Kowloon, the city's tallest building.
Three of the victims were only found hours later, as they were buried in construction debris.
'The platform was mistakenly believed to be made of metal. It was made of bamboo,' Magistrate Abu Bakar bin Wahab said. The mistake should not have been made, he said. 'Neither was it clear why someone thought that it was made of metal.'
Safety measures at the site were clearly inadequate, he said.
On four days between September 5 and 13, the contractors failed to identify hazardous conditions, provide necessary supervision for safety or provide and maintain a safe system for debris-clearing work inside the lift shaft where the men fell.
Sanfield and Wang Wai were respectively fined HK$720,000 and HK$324,000 for the six and seven summonses related to the day of the accident.
Counsel for Sanfield, Clive Grossman SC, told the court earlier that the debris clearing work was urgent because tenants already occupying the building complained about dust.
But Wahab said yesterday that 'urgent' usually meant posing a danger to life or damage to property.
The contractors violated the Factories and Industrial Undertaking Ordinance and the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations.
Last week, more than a dozen relatives of the dead were in court when the contractors pleaded guilty.
During the proceedings, a widow who became emotional slapped and verbally abused an employee of one of the contractors in the public gallery.
Yesterday, only a few of the family members were in court. They were led into a conference room in tears.
A spokeswoman said Sanfield pledged to provide a safe workplace.
Making amends
Sanfield has offered to fund the education of 14 children of the victims
It has paid compensation to each bereaved family of, in HK dollars: $1.2m
