5 Dec 2025集誌社#7649
棚網下架｜「拆」唔掂？ 穗禾苑棚網仍在 房屋局：預計 12 月 7 日完成拆除
The No. 5 alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po has left residents of estates undergoing major maintenance and enclosed by scaffold netting anxious. Development Secretary Ning Hon-ho announced on Wednesday (the 3rd) that more than 200 estates across Hong Kong undergoing major maintenance must take down their scaffold netting within three days, and may only put it back up after it passes on-site inspection. The deadline for removing the netting expires tomorrow (the 6th), but most of the netting at Sha Tin’s Siu Wo Court, which has recently been embroiled in a maintenance dispute, was still in place today. It is understood that the contractor had applied to the Buildings Department to defer the removal date to next Thursday. The Housing Bureau said in response to an inquiry this evening that the contractor at Siu Wo Court is expected to complete the removal of all scaffold netting on Dec 7.
大埔宏福苑五級火，令有棚網圍封的大維修屋苑住戶人心惶惶，發展局長甯漢豪周三（3日） 宣布，全港逾 200 個大維修屋苑，要在三日內將棚網下架，就地檢測合格後才能重新上架。拆網大限明天（6日）屆滿，不過，近日捲入維修爭議的沙田穗禾苑，至今日大部分棚網仍未拆下。據了解，承建商已向屋宇署申請，將棚網下架日期延期至下周四。房屋局晚上回覆查詢表示，穗禾苑承建商預計於 12 月 7 日完成拆除所有棚網。
28 Nov 2025法庭線#7603
宏福苑五級火 兩部門守則指棚網「應具」阻燃性 業界指非強制要求、僅查證書
The five-alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po claimed the lives of at least 128 people. The government said preliminary laboratory tests showed that the scaffolding nets met flame-retardant requirements, but public concern remains over how the government regulates them. The Witness reviewed the codes and guidelines of the Buildings Department and Labour Department and found that their requirements for the flame-retardant properties of scaffolding nets and other materials use wording such as “should be used” and “should possess”. The Chinese and English versions of the Fire Safety Code of Practice for Buildings also differ in meaning: the Chinese version says “must be used”, while the English version says “should be used”.
Both departments have recently said they enforce the flame-retardant requirements. However, the chairpersons of the Gang Jau Daap Pang Tung Ging Gung Wui and the Hong Kong Institute of Safety Professionals, Ping Tak Ho and Kwong Sing Lee, said that the flame-retardant properties of scaffolding nets are not a statutory requirement, but are mentioned only in the codes; failure to follow them is therefore not necessarily unlawful. In practice, they said, “since it isn’t a legal requirement, there is no prescribed way of doing it, so to speak”. During routine inspections, the authorities generally check only certificates provided by suppliers. They do not arrange separate testing, and will not conduct burn tests on site because of the danger involved.
大埔宏福苑五級火奪去至少 128 人性命，政府指初步化驗棚網顯示達到阻燃要求，但社會關注政府如何監管。《法庭線》翻查屋宇署及勞工處的守則與指引，發現對棚網等阻燃要求的規定，字眼為「應採用」、「應具備」，當中《建築物消防安全守則》中英版意思不一，中文版為「必須使用」，惟英文版字眼為 “should be used”。
兩部門近日都表示就阻燃規定執法。不過港九搭棚同敬工會理事長何炳德、香港執業安全師學會會長李光昇指出，棚網阻燃性並非法定要求，僅在守則有提及，若不跟從不一定違法。而實際操作上，「既然唔係法例要求，就唔會有所謂形式點去做」，當局一般巡查時只會檢查由供應商提供的證書，不會另安排測試，因涉危險亦不會在地盤燃燒實測。
27 Nov 2025法庭線#7593
宏福苑五級火 勞工處：證書顯示棚網阻燃符標準 曾巡16次就高處工作提3檢控
A No. 5 alarm fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Wednesday (26th), leaving at least 65 people dead and making the cause of the disaster and government regulation a focus of attention. In a reply to The Witness, the Labour Department said it had conducted 16 inspections of works at the estate from July last year to date. It had inspected product quality certificates for the scaffolding netting, and the documents showed that its flame-retardant performance met the recognised standards set out in the Code of Practice for Bamboo Scaffolding.
The department also said the inspections had found unsafe work-at-height conditions, and that it had filed three prosecutions against the contractor. The Fire Services Department said that, as of 8 p.m. on Thursday, the incident had caused 65 deaths and injured 70 people. Firefighters rescued one person from Wang Tao House in the evening.
Editor's note: As announced by 3 p.m. on Friday (28th), the death toll had risen to at least 128.
大埔宏福苑周三（26 日）發生五級大火，造成至少 65 人死亡，災難肇因與政府監管成焦點。勞工處回覆《法庭線》指，去年 7 月至今對屋苑工程共巡查 16 次，曾經檢視棚網的產品質量證書，資料顯示其阻燃效能符合《竹棚守則》所載的認可標準。
處方另指，巡查亦曾發現有不安全高處工作情況，已向承建商作 3 宗檢控。消防處指，截至周四晚上 8 時，事故共造成 65 人死亡、70 人受傷，消防人員傍晚在宏道閣救出一人。
編按：截至周五（28 日）下午 3 時公布，死亡人數增至至少 128 人。
Translations are supplied by the source workbook. Consult the original reporting for context.
