Following is a question by the Hon Miriam Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (February 22):
Question:
It has been reported that the safety standards for staircases in Hong Kong are outdated, and the Building (Planning) Regulations (Cap. 123F), which regulate designs of staircases, have been in force since they were amended in 1997, during which accidents of members of the public falling down on staircases occurred from time to time. It has also been reported that the safety standards for staircases in Hong Kong are based on those of the United Kingdom (UK), yet UK amended the standards in 2000 and 2010 respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of reports of accidents relating to staircases received by the authorities in the past three years, the locations of those accidents and the casualties caused;
(b) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past three years about designs of staircases failing to meet the safety standards, with a breakdown by the subject matter of complaints and the follow-up action of the authorities;
(c) of the existing safety standards for staircases in Hong Kong; how the standards compare with those of the advanced countries and cities in Europe and America, with a breakdown of the comparison results; and
(d) whether the authorities will conduct a comprehensive review of the existing standards for the designs and safety of staircases in Hong Kong; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The design and construction of staircases in private buildings is subject to the control of the Buildings Ordinance (BO) (Cap. 123). Detailed design requirements for staircases are set out in the Building (Planning) Regulations (Cap. 123F) (the Regulation) and the relevant Codes of Practice on fire safety. The design requirements seek to ensure that buildings are provided with staircases safe for serving as means of escape and access by firemen for rescue and firefighting. The Buildings Department (BD) has recently completed a consultancy study to review the existing Codes of Practice on fire safety so as to bring them in line with contemporary international standards. The study concluded, inter alia, that the safety standards for staircases in Hong Kong are comparable to those in other countries including the United Kingdom. The BD is also planning to conduct a consultancy study on a comprehensive review of the Regulation which is expected to commence in late 2012. The BD will strive to keep the design requirements under regular review to ensure that they keep up with the latest standards.
My reply to the four-part question is as follows:
(a) The BD does not keep statistics on the reports of accidents relating to staircases that it has received.
(b) The BD has not received any complaints related to standard of design of staircases in the past three years.
(c) Detailed design requirements for staircases are mainly set out in section 39 and Division 7 of the Third Schedule of the Regulation, the Code of Practice for Fire Safety in Buildings 2011 as well as the Code of Practice for the Provision of Means of Escape in Case of Fire 1996. Depending on the use of the building and the function of the staircase, the requirements in terms of minimum tread width, maximum riser height and the number of steps in a flight of staircase may vary. A comparison of the key design requirements of staircases serving as means of escape in Hong Kong with those of other countries is set out in the attached table, which illustrates that the current design standards in Hong Kong are comparable to overseas standards.
(d) The BD is planning to conduct a consultancy study on a comprehensive review of the Regulation which is expected to commence in late 2012. The study will cover, inter alia, the review on the standards of design and construction of staircases in buildings.
Ends/Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:35
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