London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 24, 2025

Hong Kong should lay down fire safety role of building owners in law: expert

Hong Kong should lay down fire safety role of building owners in law: expert

Owners should be responsible for assessing fire risks before turning off safety equipment during renovations, former fire services director Anthony Lam says.

The fire safety responsibility of building owners should be clearly defined in law, a former fire chief has argued after a blaze broke out at a Hong Kong skyscraper where the alarm system had been partially switched off due to renovation.

Former fire services director Anthony Lam Chun-man, who is now spokesman for the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, said on Thursday that building owners should be responsible for carrying out fire risk assessments before beginning improvement works.

Thirteen people were injured in the four-hour blaze at the 40-storey World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay on Wednesday. Nearly 1,300 people were evacuated, including more than 300 who were trapped on the roof for up to two hours.

Former fire services director Anthony Lam.


Three women were in stable condition in hospital, including a 60-year-old woman who was previously listed as critical, according to a government spokesman.

Due to the construction on the lower floors, the fire-prevention installations, such as the auto-sprinkler system, manual fire alarm and fire detectors, had been turned off on the first to fifth floor.

Many diners and office workers on the upper levels said they were unaware of what was happening until dense smoke spread to their floors.

The Fire Services Department said on Wednesday it had been informed earlier that the fire safety system on the lower floors had been switched off. The department vowed to evaluate whether extra fire safety equipment was needed.

Expanding on its previous comments, the department said on Thursday it had received notifications between August 2020 and September this year of the building owners’ plans to switch off the system.

It said that officers inspected the premises in August last year and concluded that no extra installations were needed for when the system was inactivated, although the owners were reminded to pay close attention to fire safety.

No fire safety violations were found during 18 inspections conducted between 2019 and Tuesday, the department added.

Renovation work is being carried out on the lower floors of the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay.


Hong Kong does not currently require such additional installations in buildings where fire-prevention systems have been shut down due to renovation and maintenance.

Lam noted that Britain had a law defining the fire safety responsibility of building owners or the person in charge of the premises, and they were required to complete an assessment before carrying out renovation.

“I think that the government should implement [similar] laws and define a responsible person,” he said.

Fire safety consultant Leung Kam-tak said the registered contractors in charge of a building’s alarms, sprinklers and other preventive installations were required to inform the Fire Services Department if they shut the system down, with the notification covering a maximum period of two weeks.

Leung said local fire stations would then be alerted, step up inspections and make suggestions about installing additional firefighting or detection equipment, such as stand-alone alarms, smoke detectors and extinguishers, to the building owner and management office.

“However, the advice is not a hard and fast rule. It is not a legal requirement,” he told a radio programme. “The ultimate responsibility lies with the building owners. They should place additional stand-alone equipment and formulate emergency plans.”

Some of the evacuees on the upper floors said they did not hear any alarm, but Leung noted manual ones required someone to pull them, while an automatic system might not be activated if the fire sensors were installed too far from the source of the blaze.

Building management should supply temporary fire-prevention equipment such as extinguishers when the system was turned off for renovation, he said.

After the blaze broke out, more than 100 people took shelter on the fifth-floor podium as the rear staircases were filled with smoke, making passage difficult.

Another 350 people, many of them office workers, fled to the roof. Some later chose to take staircases all the way to the ground floor instead of waiting for instructions from firefighters. The ones who chose to remain were asked to take lifts down shortly after 3pm.

Jerry Nip Yuen-fung, chairman of Hong Kong Fire Services Department Staffs General Association, said podiums and rooftops were not an ideal shelter in the event of a blaze.

He suggested the public use a staircase to follow the designated escape route and if the smoke was overwhelming look for another set. People should only flee to the rooftop if there was no other way to get out, Nip said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
×