An engineer has been handed a suspended two-month jail sentence after he admitted to failing to properly inspect an escalator that suddenly went into freefall in 2017, sending passengers careening into each other at its base and injuring 18 people.
Ma Siu-lun, 68, admitted in November that he failed to check five components of the escalator in Langham Place in Mong Kok.
He was found guilty of failing to ensure that the escalator, and its associated equipment and machinery, were thoroughly examined.
Appearing at Kowloon City Magistrates’ court today, Ma was sentenced to two months in jail, suspended for 12 months, and also handed a HK$40,000 (about US$5,000) fine, HK01 reports.
Ma was the engineer who gave a safety certificate to the escalator — which is about 42 meters long and runs from the fourth to the eight floor — in 2017.
The court saw surveillance footage of Ma carrying out one of the twice-yearly checks on the escalator from 7:18 am to 7:40am on January 24 of that year. The 22-minute inspection was far shorter than the standard, and was not sufficient to check the safety of the escalator, Headline Daily reported Magistrate Amy Chan Wai-man as saying.
The incident in question took place on March 25, 2017, when the ascending escalator suddenly stopped, reversed direction, and sped up significantly, sending dozens of people hurtling into pile at the bottom.
The court heard that 120 people were on the escalator at the time of the incident.
An investigation by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) found the escalator’s main drive chain was broken and its monitoring device had failed to stop the plunge.
The trial found that Ma had failed to properly inspect both of the malfunctioning elements.
Magistrate Chan said upon sentencing that given the ubiquity of escalators in Hong Kong, and their near-universal use, it was particularly important for engineers to check they’re safe. Failure to do so properly is a threat to public safety, she added.
The EMSD welcomed the verdict in a statement today, adding that they had disciplined Ma by revoking his engineering license for six months. They added that Ma had not applied to renew the license at the end of the period.
The department echoed Chan, calling escalators “indispensable” to commuters, adding that inspectors “have important and non-delegable duties to ensure the safety of escalator users.”
The two other engineers who was inspecting the escalator with Ma were handed fines of HK$6,000 (US$764) and (US$40,800) in December 2017 and March 2018 respectively.
Meanwhile, nine commuters were slightly injured on an escalator at Ngau Tau Kok station this morning. According to the South China Morning Post, a metal component on the escalator had come loose and was protruding from the side panel, where it snagged several passengers’ feet.
A licensed escalator engineer, after reviewing photos of the scene, speculated that the screws that typically hold the component in place may have come lose, but noted that such an accident was rare.
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