Transcript of remarks by SCST at media session
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Reporter: Why didn't the Government stop the concert and do safety checks when they saw stage accidents in the past few days? And the second question is what can be done to ensure such severe accidents won't happen again, say, do we have to update the safety guidelines and also the regulations?
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism: I think this is an accident that all of us do not want to see. So it is our responsibility and our determination to make sure that the same incident will not happen again. As the owner or the management of this venue, the LCSD (Leisure and Cultural Services Department) has made an agreement with the hirer on the arrangement of the performance. Also, the hirer has the prime responsibility to make sure that all the setup is safe, both to all the performers, as well as to the audience. In particular, for any particular setup on the stage, they have to have a professional registered engineer to certify that the setup is safe for that purpose. So for this particular incident, we will embark on a very detailed investigation with support of relevant departments and also some professionals to make sure that we go deep into the cause of the incident and to make necessary adjustments, for example, to the procedures as well as the standards, to make sure that future performances are safe both to the performers as well as to the audience.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, July 29, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:27
Issued at HKT 16:27
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