Hong Kong Lifts, Escalators Short of Safety Standard

Two-thirds of Hong Kong lifts and escalators “do not meet the latest safety guidelines,” the officer of the ombudsman reveals, triggering a call for more no-notice inspections, the South China Morning Post reports. Some 50,000 lifts and escalators out of the 80,000 in Hong Kong still do not comply with latest set of non-mandatory standards issued in 2019. The ombudsman says failure to follow those guidelines does not necessarily mean the facilities are unsafe, but demands improvements in supervision. Ombudsman Winnie Chiu Wai-yin says only a handful of the city’s lifts and escalators have been upgraded, and points to several “serious accidents.” In the latest, dozens of people on a 45-m-long escalator at a shopping center fell when it suddenly stopped and reversed at high speed. Eighteen people were injured.