At least 2,237 people were injured in lift and escalator incidents last year
ERNEST.KAO@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 21 April, 2016, 12:40pm
The commission urged EMSD to liaise with the trade and local training institutions to ensure there are enough qualified engineers and workers as more buildings are constructed. Photo: Edward Wong
Government auditors have told the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department to speed up and tighten monitoring and regulatory work on non-complying lift and escalator managers.
The audit comes as the number of reportable lift and escalator incidents increased by a quarter from 1,632 in 2011 to 2,029 in 2015. At least 2,237 people were injured in lift and escalator incidents last year.
“In view of the growth in the number of lift and escalator incidents, the EMSD needs to strengthen actions with a view to reducing lift and elevator incidents and consequential injuries,” the Audit Commission report read.
The report highlighted several issues it felt the department needed to address, including weak action on carrying out surveillance audits and surprise inspections of registered contractors and engineers as well as delays in considering disciplinary actions against rule-breaking contractors.
According to the commission’s findings, the department failed to review the need for at least two registered contractors who had committed offences under the lifts and escalators ordinance in December 2013 and July 2015 to stand before a disciplinary hearing.
The commission also slammed the department for failing to meet its target of conducting surveillance audits between November 2013 and 2015 – less than half of registered contractors had been subject to a surveillance audit during the two year period – and criticised it for minimal follow up to check whether rectification works had been carried out by lift operators after being sent remedial advisory letters.
A sample examination of 50 advisory letters revealed that, as of December 2015, the responsible person for 46 per cent of lift and escalators concerned had not informed the department of whether the rectification works as specified in the advisory letters had been carried out.
Other issues pointed out included delayed incident reports from contractors, lack of periodic management reports on long outstanding cases and incomplete data in the ordinance system.
The auditor suggested that there was a need to enhance the impartiality of registered engineers in Hong Kong as 91 per cent of them were employees of registered contractors, and thus responsible for examining and certifying the working condition of their employer’s lifts and escalators.
The fact that 25 per cent of escalators were built before 1989 was also an area of concern.
“With a view to enhancing the safety and reliability of escalators, the EMSD needs to consider promulgating guidelines for retrofitting new safety devices for escalators,” the commission said.
It also urged the department to closely monitor the local manpower supply and liaise with the trade and local training institutions with a view to ensuring that enough registered engineers and workers are trained to meet increasing maintenance and examination demand as more buildings are built.
The department said it agreed with the audit recommendations and would continue to take action with reference to them.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1937477/rise-lift-and-escalator-incidents-hong-kong-audit
