LCQ18: Construction safety for building maintenance works
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Question:
Recently, there have been significant public concerns about construction safety for maintenance works at residential buildings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of residential buildings undergoing large-scale maintenance works inspected by the relevant government departments in each of the past three years and, among them, the respective numbers of cases in which warnings were issued or prosecutions were instituted;
(2) of the number of complaints involving project consultants for large-scale building maintenance works received by the Buildings Department, the Home Affairs Department or other government departments over the past three years, and how the authorities have followed up on these complaints;
(3) whether it will review the functions of the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme Team under the Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Department to cope with the follow-up work on the large-scale maintenance works required as a result of the increasingly ageing public housing buildings;
(4) as it is learnt that the authorities intend to introduce legislative amendments to implement a total smoking ban at site areas, while there are views pointing out that conducting hot work processes (such as welding and flame-cutting) at site areas may produce and emit sparks, whether the authorities will review the safety and fire safety measures for such processes and designate "fire safety zone" within site areas in parallel; and
(5) given that according to the Code of Practice for Bamboo Scaffolding Safety issued by the Labour Department, the industry, when carrying out scaffolding works, should ensure that protective net and sheeting and such like installed on the face of the scaffold should have appropriate fire retardant properties, whether the authorities will consider permitting only the importation of sheeting and scaffold nets that meet the fire retardant standards in future, so as to prevent non-compliant construction materials from entering the market?
Reply:
President,
The Buildings Ordinance (BO) (Cap. 123) regulates the planning, design and construction of buildings and associated works on private land and, for this purpose, prescribes building standards on structural and various aspects covering fire safety as well as sanitation. Building works (including repair works) for private buildings are generally regulated by the Buildings Department (BD) pursuant to the BO. As for properties developed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority, according to the Housing Ordinance (Cap. 283), such buildings are subject to the control of the BO after they are sold or divested, and are regulated by the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau (HB) under the BO based on the authorisation by the Director of Buildings.
Having consulted the HB, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, and the Labour and Welfare Bureau, our consolidated reply to various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Insofar as building repair works are concerned, under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS), regulatory departments (namely the BD and ICU of the HB) will issue MBIS notices on a risk basis. The relevant owners/Owners' Corporations (OCs) are required to carry out prescribed inspection and repair. Their appointed registered inspector (RI) should submit the certificate of building inspection and certificate of building repair upon completion of the inspection and repair works respectively. On the other hand, owners/OCs who have not received an MBIS notice may, on their own volition, initiate building repair works under the Minor Works Control System (MWCS), and submit the notice of commencement of minor works and certificate of completion of minor works to the regulatory departments. Professionals and registered contractors responsible for repair works are regulated by the BO and bear the responsibility of whether their work complies with the BO. Upon receipt of the aforementioned submissions, the regulatory departments will carry out paper audits and site inspections on a random basis, and conduct follow-up investigation in light of complaints and reports received.
In the past three years, the number of paper audits and site inspections conducted by the departments responsible for carrying out regulatory actions under the BO (namely the BD and ICU of the HB) in respect of the aforementioned building repair works are set out in tables 1 to 3 by repair works under MBIS and other minor works respectively. Due to time limitation, statistics on follow-up action related to the stated paper audits and site inspections have not yet been compiled.
Table 1: Relevant figures concerning cases that have completed the phase of building inspection under MBIS
| Year | Number of paper audits (in terms of number of submissions) and site inspections |
| 2023 | 35 |
| 2024 | 60 |
| 2025 | 79 |
Table 2: Relevant figures concerning cases that have completed building repair works under MBIS
| Year | Number of paper audits (in terms of number of submissions) and site inspections |
| 2023 | 22 |
| 2024 | 38 |
| 2025 | 49 |
Table 3: Other relevant figures on minor works that involve repair of external wall
| Year | Number of paper audits (in terms of number of submissions) and site inspections |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2024 | 10 |
| 2025 | 9 |
Furthermore, in the past year, the relevant regulatory departments (namely the BD and ICU of the HB) conducted a total of about 370 on-site inspections on buildings undergoing repair works in response to public reports received.
The statistics on the prosecution and disciplinary actions taken under the relevant provisions of the BO against registered building professionals and registered contractors over the past three years that involved building repair works are tabulated below:
| Year | Number of prosecutions | Number of disciplinary action |
| 2023 | 1 | 6 |
| 2024 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025 | 11 | 4 |
(2) From 2023 to 2025 (as of June), the Home Affairs Department (HAD) received 265, 408 and 102 complaints respectively concerning building management, totalling 775 cases. The HAD, BD and ICU of the HB do not maintain a breakdown of statistics on complaints involving works consultants of major building repair projects.
If contravention of the BO by registered building professionals and registered contractors is identified, the BD will initiate prosecution against the parties concerned based on the evidence and circumstances of individual cases. Registered building professionals or registered contractors involved in misconduct or negligence may also be subject to disciplinary action.
In early 2025, the Development Bureau proposed legislative amendments to the BO, amongst which it was proposed to enhance regulation of registered building professionals and registered contractors, including increasing maximum penalties against contraventions and enhancing the registration and disciplinary systems. Subsequent to the fire incident at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, we will introduce further legislative proposals, including upgrading major building repair works from mostly Class II minor works at present to Class I minor works, such that third-party professionals will be required to submit prescribed plans and supervision plans. Furthermore, the BD will step up audit checks and enforcement actions on a risk basis.
The HAD and its District Offices have been assisting owners of private buildings in handling issues related to building management and maintenance. When enquiries or complaints regarding building management or maintenance are received, the HAD will provide appropriate advice and assistance in the accordance with the relevant provisions of the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344). If the subject matter involves professional aspect, such as supervision of works consultants, the HAD will refer the case to relevant professional department or institute for follow-up.
(3) Under the existing legislation, owners are required to appoint a RI to carry out mandatory building inspection and supervise prescribed repair works conducted by a registered contractor. The appointed RI assumes certain statutory duties, including submission of certificate of building inspection and certificate of building repair. In respect of the properties regulated by the ICU of the HB under the BO based on the authorisation by the Director of Buildings, its Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme Team will carry out paper audits and site inspections on a random basis, and conduct follow-up investigation in light of complaints and reports received.
The HB recognises the public's concerns about the safety of major building repair works. The ICU of the HB is fully co-operating with the Independent Committee and the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation in their work in relation to major building repair works, and will undertake corresponding review in response to their recommendations.
(4) The Labour Department (LD) is working full steam ahead for the amendment of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (Cap. 59I) with a view to imposing clear legal liabilities on principal contractors, subcontractors and all persons in construction sites, and strictly prohibiting smoking in all construction sites, in order to reduce the fire risks in the sites. The Government anticipates that the aforesaid legislative proposal will be submitted to the Legislative Council for scrutiny in the first quarter of 2026.
Having regard to actual on-site situations, contractors from time to time may need to carry out hot work, such as electric arc welding and flame cutting. Since 2000, the LD has formulated relevant codes of practice for manual electric arc welding, gas welding and flame cutting, which stipulate the fire precaution measures for conducting such work. It shall be the duty of the contractors, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure the safety and health of employees at work. The duty includes, but not limited to, the provision of plant and systems of work that help enhance safety, as well as the provision of the information, instruction, training and supervision to each employee, ensuring their safety and health at work.
The LD will from time to time review and revise, if necessary, the existing codes of practice and guidance notes on a risk-based approach.
(5) Protective nets and tarpaulins, etc serve a variety of purposes which may not be necessarily used in construction or maintenance projects. Purposes other than for construction or maintenance may not require such materials to meet the same fire-retardant standards. Therefore, it is not considered appropriate to control the import of tarpaulins and protective nets under a single standard.
Contractors use protective materials such as scaffolding nets at different stages or locations as necessary in building repair works to ensure safety. On December 19, 2025, the BD issued the Practice Note for Registered Contractors 85, introducing a new system which requires registered contractors to conduct sampling and testing in accordance with the requirements set out in the Practice Note, and to adopt an appropriate tracking arrangement to ensure that the protective materials ultimately installed on scaffoldings belong to the batches that have passed laboratory testing. Apart from organising a special collective procurement service for scaffolding nets for buildings affected by removal orders previously issued, the Construction Industry Council is also compiling a list of recommended scaffolding net manufacturers for the industry's reference to help the industry purchase, on their own, scaffolding nets meeting the relevant requirements.
The LD administers occupational safety and health legislation to safeguard the occupational safety and health of employees at work. The aforesaid requirements on protective materials such as scaffolding nets can also help safeguard the safety of employees. Besides, the LD is reviewing codes of practice related to scaffolding, setting out the material requirements for toe boards to ensure the materials used are of sufficient strength to prevent workers and objects from falling from scaffolds, as well as being able to reduce the fire risk.
Ends/Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:12
Issued at HKT 15:12
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