No cigarettes allowed and no one seen smoking, worker tells Tai Po fire inquiry

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.The role of the management committee of Wang Fuk Court owners’ corporation is expected to be a key focus on Friday at a hearing by an independent panel investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, with a former chairman of the body and a construction worker set to testify.In an earlier session, residents accused Tai Po district councillor Peggy Wong Pik-kiu of exerting an influence on homeowners to pick Prestige Construction and Engineering as the contractor for multimillion-dollar renovations at Wang Fuk Court, where the blaze broke out last November and claimed 168 lives.Preliminary investigations found the company had used non fire-retardant scaffolding mesh while applying flammable styrofoam boards to windows during renovations, which contributed to the quick spread of the fire.Two subcontractors on the HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) project had also admitted that they did not proactively curb workers’ habit of smoking on the scaffolding.Follow our live updates on the 14th day of the hearings. coverage:11:47AMOwners’ corporation failed to press for renovation in phasesIn an earlier testimony submitted to the independent committee, Tsui said the new owners’ corporation had asked the renovation contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering, in September 2024, whether it could complete each phase of the renovation work before beginning the next one.Prestige had previously decided against completing the renovation in stages, according to Tsui.The company said the previous owners’ corporation had already decided on the issue, explaining that dividing the project into stages would extend the construction time and incur extra costs for insurance and deposits.Tsui adds that Prestige warned any change might make it difficult to rehire the same group of experienced workers.He agrees that Prestige never addressed safety concerns over carrying out renovation work across eight blocks simultaneously, but stresses that the owners’ corporation had stopped the contractor from erecting scaffolding on a few remaining blocks.11:18AMNew owners’ corporation did not pursue proxy vote concernsTony Tsui Moon-come, chairman of the management committee of the incorporated owners of Wang Fuk Court at the time of the fire, is next to testify.Tsui, who took up the post in September 2024, notes that, as no disputes over proxy votes had arisen after he assumed office, the management committee did not pursue the issue further.He says the committee followed the same procedures for handling proxy votes as its predecessors and did not verify signatures on the proxies.He adds that the management company would send receipts to residents who submitted proxies as confirmation.Tsui also says he had heard that Tai Po district councillor Peggy Wong Pik-kiu had helped homeowners apply for renovation subsidies and collected proxy votes from them during the process, while urging them not to overturn the owners’ corporation.Some Wang Fuk Court residents who testified earlier raised concerns over irregular voting procedures, with suspicious ballots “coming from nowhere” being dropped into boxes as management staff counted the votes.10:32AMWorkers ‘forbidden’ from bringing cigarettes to site, witness saysConstruction worker Chung Yun-sun is the first witness to testify on Friday.He had been laying tesserae on bamboo scaffolding on the fourth floor of Wang Cheong House on the day of the deadly blaze.Committee counsel Lee Shu-wun says Chung was among the workers closest to the fire’s point of origin when it broke out.Chung tells the committee he attempted to extinguish the fire with a hose, but the water supply stopped after 20 to 30 seconds. He then evacuated with others.He also says foremen had been supervising their work and reminding them not to smoke on the scaffolding. He adds that he had never smoked there, noting that workers were forbidden from bringing cigarettes, and that he had never seen others smoking on the scaffolding.Chung Yun-sun. Photo: Edmond So10:27AMSubcontractors testifyNg Pui-kwan, a subcontractor responsible for exterior work on three of the estate’s eight towers, told Thursday’s session that a safety officer from the main contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering, held a briefing with his employees before they began work, but the session only lasted a few minutes.Ng also said that he told his workers not to smoke on the bamboo scaffolding but had no idea if they followed his instructions.Another subcontractor, Zhang Minghai, whose company was in charge of Wang Tao House’s renovation, conceded that he only visited the site at the end of each day and did not take proactive measures to ban workers from smoking on scaffolding.Ng Pui-kwan (third from right) and Zhang Minghai, (second right) Photo: Edmond So10:22AMWooden window boards ‘unnecessary’Subcontractors Ng and Zhang said they were told by Prestige to replace fireproof windows at emergency staircases with movable wooden boards to allow workers’ easier access to scaffolding surrounding the buildings.They conceded that this move was not necessary for them to carry out their work, although it was “common practice” in the industry.The installation of the wooden covers was among the six “human factors” identified by the committee counsel Victor Dawes that had led to the high death toll.On the day of the fire, thick smoke gushed into the staircases, stopping many residents from fleeing, the committee previously heard.Zhang Minghai. Photo: Edmond So10:15AMResidents point finger at councillorResidents took aim at Tai Po district councillor Peggy Wong during the previous day’s session.They accused her of exerting influence over major decisions at the estate, including picking Prestige as the main contractor for the renovation project.Resident Danny Fung Yiu said a group of people believed to be associated with Wong had allegedly queued to collect proxy votes at the owners’ meeting that picked Prestige as the contractor, while other homeowners were blocked from the venue after Wong’s alleged associates entered.Another resident, Tai Chi-man, said Wong’s assistants had helped his mother fill out a form to apply for government subsidies, and persuaded her to delegate voting to Wong in an election to pick the chairman of the owners’ corporation’s management committee.Peggy Wong. Photo: Elson Li10:10AMComplaints ‘fell on deaf ears’Residents also said various government agencies, including the Fire Services Department and the Labour Department, had turned a deaf ear to their complaints about hazards and alleged malpractice of the owners’ corporation management committee before the blaze broke out.Resident Lee Kwok-hung, whose mother died in the blaze with the family’s two domestic helpers, said he had complained about the fire risks associated with the use of polyfoam board to the Fire Services Department, only to be told two weeks later that there were no regulations over materials applied on windows.Another resident, Lee Chun-ho, said his mother, who also died in the blaze, had complained about suspected manipulation of voting by former management committee members of the owners’ corporation to the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Home Affairs Department, to no avail.“If the government departments had responded to our requests more seriously, there would not have been a fire,” he said emotionally.Lee Kwok-hung. Photo: Edmond So10:00AM‘Human factors’Discussions on Thursday included issues such as the use of flammable polyfoam boards, the removal of fireproof windows at emergency staircases and workers’ smoking habits.They were among six “human factors” earlier identified by committee lead counsel Victor Dawes as contributing to the death toll.Other factors were the deactivated fire alarm systems, the drained firefighting water tanks across the estate’s eight blocks and the use of non-fire-retardant scaffolding mesh.Victor Dawes SC. Photo: Edmond So