A Hong Kong engineering firm involved in a freak accident that saw a screen fall onto a stage at boyband Mirror’s concert in 2022 has been fined HK$420,000 for violating safety laws.
Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company pleaded guilty to six counts under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The counts included failing to ensure employee safety and health, and failing to ensure that “plant or substance(s) kept at premises were safe.”
The fines came more than a year after an incident at Mirror’s concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum in July 2022, when a LED screen fell and crushed two dancers on stage. One of the boy band’s dancers suffered major injuries to his neck, causing paralysis.
Three days before the performance, a dancer also fell around two to three metres from an elevated platform during rehearsals, sustaining injuries to the chest and neck.
According to the case details, Hip Hing Loong was in charge of providing and installing six LED screens and their suspension systems. The firm did not arrange for a qualified engineer to test the systems, instead relying on staff to conduct basic safety and functionality tests via visual inspection.
The Labour Department also charged two other companies – dance studio Studiodanz and entertainment consultancy Engineering Impact. Studiodanz, which supplied the dancers, pleaded guilty to offences including failing to protect employees’ safety and not purchasing insurance for employees. It was fined HK$132,000 in November.
Engineering Impact was fined HK$220,000. They pleaded guilty to not ensuring “plant or substance(s) kept at premises were safe,” failing to notify an occupational safety officer of a serious accident within 24 hours, and failing to notify of an accident.
Company just a ‘middle man’
Representing Hip Hing Loong, barrister Kelvin Lai said the company lacked vigilance and safety awareness, and expressed a sincere apology to those injured.
But he added that Hip Hing Loong was merely a subcontractor of Engineering Impact, and was simply carrying out the instructions of the consultancy to order suspension systems for the screens from a mainland Chinese manufacturer, The Witness reported. Hip Hing Loong was just a “middle man,” Lai said.
Lai also said Hip Hing Loong cooperated with the Labour Department’s investigation and was willing to take responsibility. The company had no criminal record in the 38 years since it was established, and this was an isolated incident, he argued.
Acting principal magistrate David Ko, however, said that Hip Hing Loong had installed the suspension systems and could not shift the blame to others. He said that stage installations were complex and involve changing trends, adding that staff cannot rely on past experience to determine if something is safe.
The criminal liability of the three companies was similar, he said.
Ko gave the company one month to pay the HK$420,000 fine.
According to a January 8 notice on Hong Kong’s stock exchange, Giant Panda Group Holdings Limited sought to purchase 52 per cent of Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company Limited’s shares last July. However, the latter said it is seeking legal advice after the purchaser failed to pay the final instalment.
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