TNAG-1734-FCO40-2447-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 59

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.