Lawmakers have urged the government to set harsher penalties and play a bigger role in ensuring the safety of lifts in the city.
The Legislative Council's development and housing panels held a joint meeting yesterday to discuss proposals the government made following a series of lift accidents last year.
Legislator Wong Kwok-hing, of the Federation of Trade Unions, said the Lifts and Escalators (Safety) Ordinance, which has been in place for 22 years, should be reviewed. The government said it prosecuted 24 cases under the ordinance over the past decade. Nineteen fines of between HK$500 and HK$5,000 were issued.
'Such a fine cannot serve as a deterrent for contractors at all,' Mr Wong said. 'They are likely to add it into their working cost next time ... It's time for the government to update the law and adjust the relevant punishments.'
The city had 36 lift incidents last year, including one on October 25 at Fu Shin Estate, Tai Po, where a lift crashed 14 floors to the ground. On January 11, five people were trapped in a lift 24 storeys above the ground in Heng On Estate, Ma On Shan, after a cable broke. Residents said engineers had inspected it only a week earlier.
During the meeting, legislator Lee Wing-tat of the Democratic Party criticised the government's call for Tenants Purchase Scheme estates to hire original manufacturers to perform maintenance on their lifts. 'There will always be flat owners who prefer to use the contractors offering the lowest price,' he said.
