LCQ19: Repair and maintenance of the lifts in buildings of public housing estates originally planned to be HOS
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Question :
Some residents of public rental housing (PRH) have relayed to me that the flats in the buildings in which they live were originally planned for sale under the Home Ownership Scheme but are eventually used for rental purpose, and that the lifts in such buildings frequently break down which has seriously affected their daily lives. Regarding the repair and maintenance of the lifts in such type of buildings, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the (i) name, (ii) age, (iii) number of residents by design, (iv) number of residents to date, (v) number of lifts therein, (vi) name of the lift maintenance contractor and (vii) name of the property management company, of each building, to be set out in a table by name of the public housing estate;
(2) of the number of lift failures in each building in each of the past five years; among such cases, (i) the number of those in which services were suspended for more than three days, together with a breakdown by reason of the failure (if a lack of spare parts was one of the reasons, of the original warranty period of the lift concerned and how the contractor concerned solved the problem), and (ii) the respective numbers of cases in which the lifts broke down again (a) within less than 24 hours and (b) between the 24th to 48th hour after completion of repair works;
(3) whether it has taken measures to reduce lift failures in such buildings in order to avoid affecting residents' daily lives; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) whether the relevant lift installation contracts required the contractor to keep sufficient spare parts for replacement in future; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will consider adding such a requirement in the relevant contracts in future?
Reply:
President,
My consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung is set out below:
The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) attaches great importance to lift safety. All lifts in the HA's public rental housing (PRH) estates are maintained and repaired by Registered Lift Contractors in accordance with the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance, "Code of Practice for Lift Works and Escalator Works" issued by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, and the requirements of the maintenance contracts.
The HA has been adopting proprietary maintenance to ensure that lift maintenance contractors can obtain sufficient support from the lift manufacturers, including the supply of adequate and suitable spare parts. In addition, there are stringent requirements in the HA's maintenance contracts. For example, lift maintenance contractors are required to submit quarterly reports and record the conditions of major safety devices in the lifts; as well as conduct routine maintenance on a weekly basis to ensure that the lifts can maintain a safe and stable working condition, so as to provide reliable service for residents. Furthermore, the HA would regularly inspect and monitor the performance of lift maintenance contractors, and conduct surprise check against the condition of lifts, to ensure that all lifts operate in good order.
Nineteen PRH estates (105 blocks) under the HA are transferred from the Home Ownership Scheme. Same as other PRH and subsidised sale flats constructed by the HA, the lifts of such blocks were designed with the appropriate numbers, sizes and speeds according to the prevailing design standard at the time and the block types, with a view to providing adequate lift services to cater for residents' need. The HA has allowed flexibility in the calculation to cater for the change in the number of residents. Information about these blocks and their lifts are at Annex 1.
The HA has maintained consolidated records regarding lift breakdowns since 2015. Between January 2015 and November 2018, 3 173 breakdowns were recorded for the 428 lifts of the above-mentioned 105 blocks (details are at Annex 2). Ten cases required service suspension for more than three days for repair, mainly because of defective control circuits and lift door damages by vandalism. None of these cases involved the recurrence of breakdown within 48 hours after repair.
The HA will continue to take proactive measures, to ensure the provision of quality maintenance services for its lifts and their good working order.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Issued at HKT 12:35
Issued at HKT 12:35
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