EMSD Chided Over Unsurprising Surprise Checks

"); jQuery("#212 h3").html("

Related News Programmes

"); jQuery(document).ready(function() { jwplayer.key='EKOtdBrvhiKxeOU807UIF56TaHWapYjKnFiG7ipl3gw='; var playerInstance = jwplayer("jquery_jwplayer_1"); playerInstance.setup({ file: "https://newsstatic.rthk.hk/audios/mfile_1590697_1_20210513174523.mp3", skin: { url: location.href.split('/', 4).join('/') + '/jwplayer/skin/rthk/five.css', name: 'five' }, hlshtml: true, width: "100%", height: 30, wmode: 'transparent', primary: navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Trident")>-1 ? "flash" : "html5", events: { onPlay: function(event) { dcsMultiTrack('DCS.dcsuri', 'https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1590697-20210513.mp3', 'WT.ti', ' Audio at newsfeed', 'WT.cg_n', '#rthknews', 'WT.cg_s', 'Multimedia','WT.es','https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1590697-20210513.htm', 'DCS.dcsqry', '' ); } } }); }); });

2021-05-13 HKT 14:31

Share this story

facebook

  • EMSD chided over unsurprising surprise checks

The Ombudsman, Winnie Chiu, on Thursday criticised the effectiveness of government inspections on lifts and escalators, pointing out that 'surprise' checks conducted by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) were not surprising at all.

Chiu’s office recently completed an investigation into the matter, after a number of serious incidents in recent years – including a fatal lift incident in 2018 at a Sheung Shui housing estate that killed one woman.

The watchdog found that it is common practice for the EMSD to reach out to contractors before ‘surprise’ inspections. The department explained that it needed to first confirm contractors’ maintenance schedules before conducting its own checks.

But this also tips off contractors, and Chiu said it undermines the deterrent effect of the inspections on older facilities – which account for less than four percent of the overall number of checks the department conducts every month.

"We recommend that the EMSD increase the ratio of surprise inspections, and that the contractors provide timely information about their schedule of maintenance work [online]," Chiu said.

The Ombudsman’s probe also found that the EMSD's monitoring of contractors’ workers, to make sure they did not do too many repairs in a day, was lax.

The department’s guidelines say these workers should not work on more than six lifts or escalators in a single day. But the watchdog found that contractors allowed their workers to perform “excessive maintenance”, and then would explain why this had been done in a report to the EMSD later.

"We find this measure rather passive,” Chiu said. “We believe that to have better monitoring, EMSD should require contractors to submit reasons for and the number of excessive works prior to such work being done.”

She added that EMSD explained to her office that some of the “excessive maintenance” was allowed because the work involved was relatively easy, facilities were close to each other, and owners only allowed repair works after office hours.

Chiu said out of around 50,000 facilities, fewer than a fifth of old lifts and just 7.5 percent of old escalators had been retrofitted with safety devices – that’s despite guidelines issued by the EMSD asking contractors to update them.

But Chiu stressed these escalators and lifts are still safe, as long as maintenance and repair works are done properly.

RECENT NEWS

StartmeupHK Festival And Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 Merge For 10th Anniversary Milestone

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced on 10 March 2025 that both of its flagship events, Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 an... Read more

Ant AI-Powered Health Insurance Processes 7.25M Claims In 2024, 55%YoY Increase

In 2024, Ant Insurance, the online insurance brokerage platform of Ant Group, processed 7.25 million health claims, mar... Read more

Ping An Talent Uses AI For Job Matching, But Can Technology Make Recruitment Fairer?

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. has launched its 2025 Spring Campus Recruitment, offering over 2,000 p... Read more

HKEX Partners With CMU OmniClear To Boost Post-Trade Securities Infrastructure

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced on 4 March 2025 that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding ... Read more

PAObank Secures Insurance Agency Licence, Partners With Ping An And FWD Hong Kong

PAO Bank Limited (PAObank) has received its Insurance Agency Licence from the Insurance Authority and signed strategic ... Read more

IFAST Launches Self-Service Accounts For Hong Kong Family Offices

Fintech solutions provider iFAST HK launches self-service accounts in Hong Kong, catering to the growing demand for ind... Read more