Govt surveyor criticised for shifting blame at inquiry

The chairman of the Wang Fuk Court fire inquiry on Thursday criticised a government surveyor, saying his explanations were unconvincing and appeared to shift blame. Justice David Lok made the remarks after senior maintenance surveyor Yung Siu-lun from the Housing Bureau's independent checking unit testified at the hearing. Yung is responsible for approving documents to ensure renovation works follow regulations. At the hearing, Yung said his Independent Checking Unit was not told that the Buildings Department had raised the inspection rate to 20 percent in its guidelines for projects like the one at Wang Fuk Court. Senior counsel Victor Dawes, who represents the inquiry, asked Yung if he was trying to shift responsibility to the Buildings Department instead of his own unit. Yung reiterated that if he had known earlier that the guidelines had been updated, he might have done an on-site inspection at Wang Fuk Court and discovered the unauthorised openings that allowed renovation workers to enter the building from the outer wall. In response, Justice Lok said Yung's explanations for many questions felt weak to the committee and came across as shifting blame on the Buildings Department. The inquiry earlier heard that unauthorised openings along staircases turned escape routes into death traps at the Tai Po residential estate when the deadly inferno broke out last November. Thick smoke poured through and many residents could not escape. Edited by Tony Sabine