Opinion | More action needed on falling windows
- The recent death of a tourist and revelation that a pane plunges every five days shows there is no room for complacency; it is time for mandatory inspections and prosecutions to be stepped up
Skyscrapers are such a familiar part of urban life in Hong Kong, those living and working in them give little thought to the threat they sometimes pose to safety.
The government’s revelation that a window pane falls from a building an average of once every five days is, therefore, cause for concern.
The danger of falling windows was tragically highlighted in January, when a 24-year-old tourist was killed by a pane that fell from the 16th floor of the Mira Hong Kong hotel in busy Tsim Sha Tsui.
The Buildings Department received 216 reports of falling windows involving private buildings aged 10 years or older between 2016 and 2018, the Legislative Council was told. The department does not keep figures on any casualties caused.
These statistics do not appear to be much of an improvement on the position more than a decade ago, when a spate of falling windows prompted the government to introduce a mandatory inspection scheme.
There were, for example, at least 75 reported cases in 2005, when almost a window a day fell from a tall building in one month of high rainfall.