Tai Po fire: 300 civil servants from disgraced inspection unit to be transferred to new regulatory body

Around 300 civil servants at a government inspection unit will be transferred to a new regulatory body set up to replace the unit, authorities have said, after an independent investigation blamed it for regulatory failures leading to last year’s deadly fire in Tai Po.

Authorities announced plans on Thursday to axe the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) as part of a raft of reforms responding to the findings of an Independent Committee tasked with investigating the fire’s causes and making policy recommendations.

See also: HK officials bow in apology almost a year after Tai Po blaze killed 168, housing chief steps down

The ICU will be replaced in November by a new body called the Public Housing Building Control Section, which will establish a new regulatory regime to oversee maintenance projects in Hong Kong’s public and government-subsidised housing estates.

Acting Secretary for Housing Michael Wong said at a press conference on Friday that the new section would be staffed by civil servants from the soon-to-be-scrapped ICU.

When asked by reporters if the arrangement was merely “old wine in a new bottle,” Wong said the new regime would change to a project-based model, and authorities had provided additional training to civil servants to deepen their understanding of relevant regulations.

Unlike the ICU, Wong said, the new section would deploy a dedicated liaison officer to communicate with the Owners’ Corporation for each building maintenance project.

It would also enhance communication with the Buildings Department, which would second a directorate-level officer to the Public Housing Building Control Section to provide training and supervision.

Wong said, citing remarks made on Thursday by the city’s leader John Lee, that while the independent committee found shortcomings in the work of some civil servants, Hong Kong’s civil service as a whole was doing a good job.

The Housing Bureau had made achievements in increasing the supply of public housing units and combating substandard subdivided units, Wong added.

ICU under fire

The independent committee’s final report, which was published on Thursday, criticised the ICU’s  “slack supervision attitude” over renovation works at fire-hit Wang Fuk Court.

The unit was also found to have mishandled residents’ complaints over potential fire hazards.

The independent committee heard in previous hearings that ICU surveyors had notified contractors ahead of safety inspections at Wang Fuk Court, giving them time to remove non-compliant elements.

“Even with a regulatory regime with loopholes and deficiencies, had the staff of the ICU taken their works seriously… there was a real possibility that they could have removed some of the fire hazards in Wang Fuk Court,” the independent committee said.

In November last year, a blaze broke out in the estate while it was undergoing major renovations and the buildings were clad in scaffolding nets. The fire quickly ripped through seven of the eight towers, killing 168 people and leaving thousands homeless.

The city’s leader Lee also said that the government would activate a mechanism to investigate potential accountability issues within the civil service, with a focus on the four departments named by the committee’s report, including the ICU, the Buildings Department, the Fire Services Department, and the Labour Department.

The “Tier II investigation” is a mechanism under the Heads of Department Accountability System, established in the Chief Executive’s 2025 Policy Address.

Lee said the Public Service Commission would complete its investigation within three months and submit recommendations on whether disciplinary action or administrative penalties would be in order.

Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team

Support HKFP  |  Policies & Ethics  |  Error/typo?  |  Contact  |  Newsletter  | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps

Make a one-off donation.

Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.