An independent committee looking into the Wang Fuk Court fire on Thursday concluded that government regulators must share responsibility for the high death toll in the Wang Fuk Court fire, finding that private-sector misconduct was compounded by decades of official failure, regulatory loopholes and “slack enforcement”.

The committee concluded that had officials handled residents’ complaints properly and worked with a sense of crisis about facade fires on occupied renovation sites, private wrongdoing and site hazards “could have been rectified or removed before the fire.” Lax enforcement, it said, “inevitably” breeds lax private-sector performance.

The government bodies identified “should bear part of the responsibility for the high casualties”.

"Had the staff of the various government bodies handled the complaints properly and done their works seriously given the possible tragic consequences of fire in the building maintenance and repair sites, there was a real possibility that the misconduct of the private-sector parties and the fire hazards in Wang Fuk Court could have been rectified or removed before the fire," it said.

It found the Buildings Department (BD) and the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) primarily responsible for failed supervision of the Wang Fuk Court works. The failings were “systemic and multi-layered,” spanning policy design and day-to-day operations.

It listed six core failures: over-reliance on the integrity of building professionals; failing to design supervision around the tragic risk of fires at building maintenance and renovation sites; inadequate control of temporary materials such as scaffolding nets, canvas, foam boards and toe-boards; poor complaint handling; slack operational enforcement; and poor BD-ICU coordination, including the BD’s failure to audit the ICU.

Despite a contract worth more than HK$330 million covering the external walls of eight high-rise occupied blocks, the works were classified as “lower-risk” minor works under the Minor Works Control System rather than high-risk major works.

The committee said the Fire Services Department (FSD) failed its supervisory duty to assess and remove fire hazards at Wang Fuk Court and to supervise shutdowns of fire service installations and the contractors who certify them.

Despite 26 visits, FSD crews never inspected escape staircases and never detected access openings. Complaints about foam boards, smoking and blocked escapes were met with referrals and “merry-go-round” replies rather than effective action.

It also identified four Labour Department (LD) operational failures: smoking on site; foam-board fire hazards; verifying net fire-retardancy; and access openings.

After 16 visits, smoking complaints were marked “not justified”. The committee said that finding was “simply contrary to the reality”, given residents’ photographs, videos and WhatsApp messages.

Compared with the BD, ICU and FSD, the LD should bear “lesser” responsibility, the committee said – but still criticised a “just-following-the-books” attitude and departments that “passed the ball” until hazards fell through the cracks.

"There are already strong indications that persons with dubious or triad background are active in the building maintenance and repair industry. Given the probable presence of black sheep in the industry, it is regrettable that there was practicably no control or supervision over the actual execution of the building maintenance and repair works," the report says.

"As a matter of good governance, the services provided by the civil servants should be 'people-centred'", the committee said.

In the case that the complainant has raised a matter of genuine concern, they should “take an extra step to help” and should avoid saying “this is not our responsibility and go look elsewhere”, it added.


Edited by Aaron Tam