Hong Kong building safety needs proper enforcement
- A spate of incidents involving concrete falling from old blocks has highlighted both poor maintenance from building owners and slack official responses to non-compliance
An accident does not necessarily make Hong Kong unsafe. But the recent spate of incidents involving concrete falling from old blocks is worrying enough.
While road users cannot watch out for objects falling from above all the time, many have become wary of staying under aged building structures for too long. The safety risk sits oddly with our image as a modern and liveable city.
The latest mishap is the fifth this month. On Wednesday, a young man was injured by debris falling from the canopy of a 58-year-old block in Sai Wan Ho.
That incident was just days after an elderly woman was struck by mosaic tiles that fell from a residential building in Tai Po as Typhoon Talim skirted the city. Separately, pieces of concrete fell off a building in densely populated Mong Kok, slightly damaging two parked cars.
Thankfully, there were no injuries.
The typhoon and wet seasons were no doubt contributing factors. But the lack of maintenance and slack building safety enforcement were the underlying causes.