Hong Kong authorities have initiated new prosecutions against contractors following an incident last year that saw a large video screen fall and crush two dancers during a Mirror concert.
The incident happened in July at the Hong Kong Coliseum (pictured), with one dancer reportedly still hospitalised and at risk of permanent paralysis.
The Cantopop band’s remaining shows of the concert series were subsequently cancelled, and fans were offered a refund.
An investigation was completed in November, but last week the government accused Engineering Impact, Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering and Studiodanz of breaching Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, and the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance.
According to Variety, the three companies’ offences included failure to provide employees with safe systems of work, failure to notify the Commissioner for Labour of an accident and failure to take employees’ compensation insurance for workers.
The government filed ‘conspiracy to defraud’ charges against two men and a woman employed by Engineering Impact, and explained that they had deliberately made a false declaration about the weight of the TV screen to speed up the regulatory approval process.
These latest charges bring the number up to 15 against the three companies in question. The department applied to the court in mid-January for summonses and the case has been scheduled for a hearing at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on March 27.
As per the report from Variety, a department spokesperson said: “The LD will not tolerate the above-mentioned illegal acts and will strictly enforce the law and do its utmost to protect the occupational safety and health as well as the statutory rights of employees.”