Question 7 Page 4
MRS. FAN: Sir, I appreciate the difficulty in drawing
a line when interpreting which should come under the
control of the Buildings Ordinance. However, this is a
situation which is a danger to life and limb, so may I
ask the Secretary, apart from this advisory letter,
would whether the Government take any other actions based on
the lesson learnt from this accident. And will the
Government take steps to assist the school authorities in
detecting such weaknesses, taking into account the fact
that the ability to serve as a school principal does not
include the ability to detect structural faults?
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, that is a fairly
comprehensive question. I think I must
repeat what
I said in my main answer, Sir, and that is that the
Government's view, essentially, is that the owners of
buildings must be responsible for their own buildings.
In the case of schools, Sir, the school authorities
themselves are the best people to see what is going on
around them. They are in the building all the
time and should be able to detect whether there are problems.
Indeed, if an inspector from a government agency were to
go into a school, the only way that he could ascertain
safety
complete 人 would be to carry out very extensive and
expensive tests on the structure.
I am sure that that
So,
I
really would not be a practicable proposition.