Hong Kong stage engineering contractor fined HK$420,000 over Mirror concert accidents in 2022
- Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company was one of three firms being held accountable after giant video screen fell onto stage and platform failed to rise properly
- Company was in charge of maintenance and operation of the mechanical engineering aspects of the stage, court hears
A Hong Kong magistrate has fined a contractor HK$420,000 (US$53,685) over the collapse of a giant video screen at a concert by Cantopop boy band Mirror and an accident during a rehearsal that injured three dancers in 2022, hitting out at the company’s practice of only visually inspecting suspended stage installations.
Kowloon City Court handed down the fine on Wednesday after the Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company pleaded guilty to six counts of failing to ensure the safety of their employees, failing to ensure that devices were safe and failing to notify authorities of accidents.
The fine was the heftiest out of those given to the three companies being held accountable for the accidents. The two others, Engineering Impact and the Studiodanz Company, were fined a total of HK$352,000 in November.
2 Hong Kong contractors fined HK$352,000 in total over Mirror concert injuries
During Mirror’s concert on July 28, 2022, the fourth of 12 shows, a cable suspending an LED screen weighing 500kg (1,102lbs) snapped, hitting dancers Mo Li Kai-yin and Chang Tsz-fung. Li, 28, was severely injured and has been in rehabilitation trying to regain use of his limbs.
An investigation found that another dancer, Zisac Law Tak-chi fell two to three metres during a rehearsal for the first concert on July 25 after an elevating platform failed to ascend to the stage as expected. He suffered chest and knee injuries, and sprained his neck.
The prosecution said Hip Hing Loong was in charge of the maintenance and operation of the mechanical engineering aspects of the stage, such as the equipment for the rising platforms and the suspension systems, excluding the LED screens.
Main contractor Engineering Impact, meanwhile, was responsible for building the stage and installing its components, including rising platforms, the sound and lighting systems and the suspension system holding the LED screens.
Staff from Hip Hing Loong installed the systems at the Hong Kong Coliseum between July 18 and 19, 2022, and carried out basic safety and operational inspections visually, according to the prosecutors.
In mitigation, defence counsel Kelvin Lai Kin-wah said Hip Hing Loong, established in 1986, had worked on thousands of concerts and the accident was “extremely unfortunate” and the company expressed “extreme remorse”.
But Lai argued that compared to Studiodanz and Engineering Impact, Hip Hing Loong played a “passive role” in the accident as Engineering Impact was in charge of designing the stage components with a manufacturer in mainland China.
“Hip Hing Loong is merely the subcontractor of Engineering Impact and has installed the LED screens produced by mainland manufacturers based on Engineering Impact’s instructions,” Lai said. “The mainland manufacturer has frequently worked with Engineering Impact over many years, and Hip Hing Loong was only the middle man.”
Lai also said the act of inspecting suspended installations visually was a “long-term industry practice”.
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Acting principal magistrate David Ko Wai-hung said Hip Hing Loong had an “unshirkable responsibility” in ensuring the suspension system could bear the weight of the LED screen, and not only through a visual inspection.
“I would call this an industry loophole. Just because it has not happened before, does not mean it will not happen in the future,” said Ko, pointing out that the accident had seriously injured a dancer.
“As stage designs become more innovative and complicated, the greater the need for professionals to supervise and manage the equipment, instead of just relying on experience.”
Engineering Impact was fined HK$220,000 last November after it admitted to four offences, including failing to ensure that devices were safe, failing to notify the Occupational Safety Officer of a serious accident within 24 hours and failing to give notice of an accident.
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Studiodanz, which hired the dancers, was fined HK$132,000 last November after it admitted five offences, including failing to ensure the safety and health of employees, failing to give notice of accidents to employees and failing to provide them insurance coverage.
