Hong Kong Orders Citywide Scaffolding Nets Removal After Blaze

Hong Kong ordered all buildings undergoing major repair work to immediately remove exterior scaffolding nets, as authorities investigate suspicions of forged safety certifications in connection with the city’s recent deadly blaze.

All buildings currently carrying out the major repair works — covering more than 200 private projects and about 10 public ones — must take down their netting at once and complete the removal by Saturday, Hong Kong Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn said at a press briefing on Wednesday. 

An independent inspection team from the Buildings Department and the Housing Bureau collected documents and some netting samples from four housing estates and suspected that some paperwork had been falsified, Linn also said.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang said the police are investigating cases of suspected forged netting certificates tied to maintenance works, with documents claiming the material was certified as flame-retardant by two mainland Chinese testing centers. Police found that one of those centers hadn’t issued those certificates while the other couldn’t be reached. Tang said he expected more cases to emerge and to be investigated.

At least 159 people died in the city’s deadliest fire in nearly eight decades. Authorities had said earlier the rapid spread of the blaze was linked to the use of the substandard scaffolding nets and foam boards.