A scaffolding net sample from a large Hong Kong housing estate produced flaming droplets and ignited a fire in a lab experiment despite passing the authorities’ safety standards, a test commissioned by the Post has found.
The findings have prompted calls from experts to review the standards set for the nets and improve the existing safety regulations targeting scaffolding on renovation sites.
Soon after the inferno at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on November 26, the Post collected net samples from the estate and four others and sent them to a government-certified laboratory to conduct a fire safety test.
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Earlier, authorities revealed that they had found substandard, non-fire-retardant scaffolding nets mixed with other nets and that might have aided the rapid spread of the fire that claimed at least 159 lives and left about 4,000 people homeless.
The government has promised to release new guidelines this week that will specify how the mesh should be sampled and tested before being put on scaffolding.
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The four estates randomly picked by the Post apart from Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po were Victory Garden in Kwai Chung, Sui Wo Court in Sha Tin, Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan and Cheung Shing Building in Prince Edward, covering both private and public residential flats.