Lift contractor Taizoom failed to install fire-resistant door frames in 338 buildings, gov’t probe finds

Hong Kong lift contractor Taizoom Elevator failed to properly install door frame components across more than 300 buildings across the city, a government probe has found, following similar defects revealed at two public housing estates last week.

The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) said on Monday that it had inspected 376 single-block buildings with lifts installed by Taizoom and found 338 of them were missing smoke-seal components designed to keep fire and smoke from entering lift shafts.

All 338 affected properties are private buildings, and their management companies or owners’ corporations have been or will be notified of the defects, the EMSD said on a webpage dedicated to disclosing the progress of its inspections.

“As inspections to date show that all cases of missing lift door frame components are related to Taizoom, the EMSD will at this stage focus its resources on installing lift door frames for these buildings as soon as possible,” the department added.

The EMSD revealed last week that lifts in Kwun Tong’s Tsui Ping (North) Estate and Sha Tin’s Pok Hong Estate – both installed by Taizoom – had missing door frame parts that amounted to non-compliance.

The department said the missing parts do not affect the safe operation of the lifts, but it has instructed Taizoom to repair the defects at its own expense.

It also asked other lift contractors in the city to inspect their own elevators and submit reports, and added that the EMSD will conduct sample checks across the city by mid-November.

As of Monday, the EMSD had inspected 38 buildings with lifts installed by other registered lift contractors and found none with missing door frame components.

The EMSD also said last week that Taizoom had claimed to the department that its lift works were completed despite the missing door frame components.

Taizoom is suspected of serious negligence or misconduct under the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance, while the police are investigating whether the contractor had engaged in fraud and the provision of false statements.

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Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.