At the end of last month, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) received the report that a lift accident had happened during maintenance works at Waterside Plaza, Tsuen Wan, prompting an immediate investigation. According to the on-site investigation, as the lift contractor was examining a broken-down lift which had stopped on the 46th floor at the above address, the lift counterweight slipped downwards as far as the buffer at the bottom of the lift shaft, while the lift car ascended to the top of the shaft, colliding with the cement ceiling on which the driving-machine was sitting. Although the accident happened during maintenance and did not involve the normal operation of the lift, the EMSD immediately required the contractor to examine all the lifts there and submit a report within seven days. The EMSD is now carefully reviewing the report while continuing with its investigation. We do not rule out the possibility that the accident was caused by a procedural error in the maintenance of the lift.
Hong Kong has more skyscrapers than any other city in the world, and with its dense population also has a concentration of lifts and escalators much higher than other cities. We use lifts and escalators almost every day, and they have become our means of “vertical transport to the upper floors”. In fact, the number of people using lifts and escalators is several times larger than that for the Mass Transit Railway. As such, the operational safety of lifts and escalators is of paramount importance in our daily lives.
After the rare lift accident in North Point in March last year, to ensure public safety and address people’s concerns, our colleagues at the EMSD worked round the clock to examine all 240 lifts maintained by the contractor concerned within three days following the accident. Furthermore, the EMSD staff worked tirelessly to contact the owners and property management agents of the 90 affected buildings, and helped them change to other lift maintenance contractors before the licence of the contractor concerned was suspended, to avoid causing disruption to the lift services in those buildings.
To further ensure public safety and enhance the quality of maintenance, the EMSD has stepped up inspection and introduced a series of monitoring measures through internal redeployment, so as to enhance law enforcement against poorly performing contractors and to avoid public safety being affected by inadequate maintenance. Relevant measures include conducting a review of the inspection mechanism of lifts and escalators to give priority to lifts with high complaint and breakdown rates; stepping up the monitoring of individual contractors under the Contractors’ Performance Rating System (CPR System) to ensure the compliance of their manpower, equipment and parts with the requirements of the Code of Practice; and conducting a comprehensive review of the CPR System.
The EMSD also organised over 40 briefing sessions for residents, property owners and property management staff in all 18 districts across the territory to familiarise them with their responsibilities under the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance (the Ordinance). Moreover, staff were also deployed to visit about 100 “three-nil” buildings (i.e. buildings without owners’ corporations, owners’ committees and property management companies) to provide information on the Ordinance and on various methods of lift management. Thanks to the above monitoring measures and the inspections carried out by our colleagues, our efforts on this front have achieved positive results.
Last July, we set up the Lift and Escalator Safety Advisory Committee (LESAC), whose membership includes not only industry representatives, but also representatives from property management agencies, professional bodies, training institutions, consumer groups and other sectors. The LESAC has provided valuable opinions on the implementation of the Ordinance, and has discussed various options for enhancing lift and escalator safety to safeguard public safety and promote the long-term development of the industry. These discussions have covered the CPR System, the publishing of maintenance price information of lifts at government premises, promotion work on the statutory responsibilities of different stakeholders, the feasibility of introducing new technology, good maintenance work practices and the occupational health and safety of engineering workers. The EMSD will consider their recommendations and adopt them as appropriate.
Last month, the LESAC proposed to revise the presentation format of the CPR for registered lift and escalator contractors by adopting a simpler star rating system to evaluate the CPR on safety and service quality. For example, a green safety star will be awarded to a contractor that has had no safety non-compliance problem during inspections of their lifts and escalators in the preceding 12 months. A contractor’s performance rating in maintenance services quality will be recognised with blue quality stars, i.e. the higher the number of blue stars, the better the service quality of the contractor. This system aims to encourage contractors to improve their performance and strive for a higher rating in their CPR. We hope that this star rating system will not only assist contractors in upgrading their performance, but also become an easily recognised symbol of quality services. The EMSD formally adopted the proposal at the end of last month and presented CPR data for the latest quarter in the new format.
In addition, the LESAC has also become a vital link between the EMSD and various community organisations, forging partnerships among them and promoting their co-operation and participation. The LESAC also serves as a platform for them to resolve their difficulties, voice their concerns and share their achievements, thus building greater mutual trust among them. In future, we will continue to enhance the monitoring of maintenance works for lifts and escalators and tighten up enforcement, so as to further enhance lift and escalator safety in Hong Kong and ensure users’ safety.
9 February, 2014
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