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SCMP Reporter

CHINA Light and Power made a surprise about-turn yesterday when it revealed to a coroner's court details of internal reports into the death of one of its employees - a day after refusing to do so.

 Leung Moon-fu, 34, died last September when he fell from a 13-metre pole while dismantling an overhead cable.

  Coroner Warner Banks threatened CLP with a summons compelling it to hand over details of its investigation when the death probe began on Wednesday.

  Counsel for the utility company, Benjamin Yu, told Mr Banks yesterday that CLP had decided to submit the report.

  But it still faces legal action in a similar case after refusing to reveal details of a report into the deaths of two workers during an explosion at Castle Peak power station last year.

   The firm claims the findings of that internal investigation were privileged, the defence used when originally refusing to divulge information on the Leung death.

  The Attorney-General, Jeremy Mathews, directed Mr Banks to reopen the inquest into the Castle Peak deaths following revelations of the existence of a CLP document not produced at the original hearing.

  At the end of yesterday's hearing, Mr Banks recorded a verdict of death by misadventure on Mr Leung who died while dismantling part of a disused 11,000-volt overhead power line system at Fu Tei, Tuen Mun, on September 23, last year.

  Mr Banks first requested the production of CLP's board of inquiry report after Cheung Chun-wah, a Labour Department factory inspector, referred to it in evidence to the inquest.

  The request was refused by the company which contended that the report was a privileged document.

  An affidavit, read out in open court by Mr Yu, from CLP company secretary John Leigh revealed the existence of two internal reports - red and blue.

  The affidavit said the company had a policy, enshrined in the company's standing instructions and which had been in existence for many years, for convening a board of inquiry to investigate and report on major accidents and dangerous incidents.

   ''The terms of reference shall be to establish the facts, determine the causes and draw conclusions in respect of the occurrence,'' it reads.

  The board then compiles a report based on the facts, causes and conclusions of the inquiry known as the ''red report'' because it has a red cover.

 In addition, members of the board may be required to take an additional advisory function to review the facts found and to make recommendations aimed at preventing a recurrence of the incident and to prepare an advisory report known as the ''blue report'', the affidavit said.

  But Mr Banks said these documents were not privileged unless their dominant purpose was for submission to the client's legal advisers for legal advice in contemplation of litigation.

  Because of the considerable media attention which the inquest had attracted and the reopening of another inquest concerning the explosion at the CLP Castle Peak power station in August last year, he felt it necessary to explain a coroner's role at an inquest.

  The coroner had the responsibility of ensuring all relevant evidence was presented to the court.

 While describing the two China Light and Power reports presented yesterday as ''helpful'', he said they did not substantially differ from the report prepared by the Labour Department.

  To avoid similar fatalities, Mr Banks recommended that where staff were carrying out work in a potentially dangerous environment, proper supervision should be exercised to ensure full compliance with established procedures and instructions of the employer.

  Company spokesman Dominic Tai disagreed that CLP had been forced into producing the two reports.

   After the hearing, the deceased's younger brother Leung Mun-hung, 32, said legal action had been launched against the company for compensation.

   So far, he said he had received a death gratuity of more than $200,000 and $250,000 of the $350,000 funeral expenses.

 However, Mr Tai said all ex-gratia payments had already been settled.

  He said the family had signed a document stating that all expenses incurred following the death had been cleared when the company made its last payment on November 17, last year.



CLP reveals details of man's death