Opinion | Death of tourist hit by falling window puts focus on public safety
- Building owners have a responsibility to ensure no one is exposed to danger by their premises, and the government has to ensure that proper checks are carried out
Hong Kong’s high-rises are such an integral part of urban living that we tend to take their safety for granted. But they can also be a threat to public safety, as shown on Monday morning when a tourist was killed by a falling window from an upscale Tsim Sha Tsui hotel. Obviously, one mishap does not make the city more dangerous, nor should one have to keep looking above when walking along a street. But the incident does raise questions over the maintenance of windows in a city with a high population density.
A cleaner at the hotel has been arrested and an investigation continues. Under the Summary Offences Ordinance, if anything is dropped from a building exposing someone in or near a public place to danger or injury, those responsible are liable to a fine of HK$10,000 and six months in jail. The window in question was normally locked in position. Whether it was faulty and had not been checked remains unclear. The police said they would look into the liability of the hotel, and rightly so.
The section of Nathan Road at The Mira Hong Kong is one of the busiest in the city. The 24-year-old victim from Foshan was walking along the street when the window fell from a room on the 16th floor. Her boyfriend escaped with minor injuries. While this may be an isolated accident, it is not the first time that a window has fallen from a tall building. With the Lunar New Year approaching, local households are busy cleaning their flats. Chances are that windows and hinges left untouched for a long time may break and fall off. Just shortly after the accident at the hotel, a window fell from a Tai Po public housing unit. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the threat cannot be ignored.
Indeed, falling windows made the headlines so often in the past that the government passed a law in 2011 mandating window inspections. Based on some criteria, the scheme selects buildings 10 years old or more for inspection, but its effectiveness still leaves much to be desired. Even though half a million notices of compliance have been issued, covering some 9,800 buildings, the numbers are just a fraction of the tens of thousands of decaying blocks across the city. The Ombudsman has launched an investigation as a result of complaints from the public about the scheme.
The Mira Hong Kong, which underwent a major renovation in 2009, was apparently not targeted by the scheme. In a belated move, the Buildings Department ordered the hotel to inspect all windows within one month. The Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners has also called on members to step up safety checks.