Hong Kong stage engineering contractor fined HK$420,000 over Mirror concert accidents in 2022
- Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company was one of three firms being held accountable after giant video screen fell onto stage and platform failed to rise properly
- Company was in charge of maintenance and operation of the mechanical engineering aspects of the stage, court hears
A Hong Kong magistrate has fined a contractor HK$420,000 (US$53,685) over the collapse of a giant video screen at a concert by Cantopop boy band Mirror and an accident during a rehearsal that injured three dancers in 2022, hitting out at the company’s practice of only visually inspecting suspended stage installations.
Kowloon City Court handed down the fine on Wednesday after the Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company pleaded guilty to six counts of failing to ensure the safety of their employees, failing to ensure that devices were safe and failing to notify authorities of accidents.
The fine was the heftiest out of those given to the three companies being held accountable for the accidents. The two others, Engineering Impact and the Studiodanz Company, were fined a total of HK$352,000 in November.
During Mirror’s concert on July 28, 2022, the fourth of 12 shows, a cable suspending an LED screen weighing 500kg (1,102lbs) snapped, hitting dancers Mo Li Kai-yin and Chang Tsz-fung. Li, 28, was severely injured and has been in rehabilitation trying to regain use of his limbs.
An investigation found that another dancer, Zisac Law Tak-chi fell two to three metres during a rehearsal for the first concert on July 25 after an elevating platform failed to ascend to the stage as expected. He suffered chest and knee injuries, and sprained his neck.
The prosecution said Hip Hing Loong was in charge of the maintenance and operation of the mechanical engineering aspects of the stage, such as the equipment for the rising platforms and the suspension systems, excluding the LED screens.
Main contractor Engineering Impact, meanwhile, was responsible for building the stage and installing its components, including rising platforms, the sound and lighting systems and the suspension system holding the LED screens.
