Date, time & venue
2019-05-10;1:45 am (registration) for 2:00 pm to 5:45 pm;Room TU103, PolyU

(Supported by Structural Division)

Programme Highlight

A tourist was struck and killed by a window fallen from high floor of a local hotel in the busy Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district in January 2019. Police arrested a hotel cleaner under a law against “allowing objects to fall from buildings and endanger or harm the public”. The accident sparked alarm that any window could possibly fall from the exterior of a modern hotel building in a city stacked with skyscrapers…..

In the wake of the above fatal accident, there are aspirations from the general public/building owners demanding quality prescribed window inspection and repair which are rendered safe under the law. Hitherto, about 500,000 Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (MWIS) notices are issued and a small amount of voluntary MWIS inspections are conducted, and these are mainly carried out by Minor Works contractors, which are one of the registers of qualified persons that are natural persons. They are semi-skilled labour with limited technical knowledge; hence, they should be further trained and tested in order to undertake legal liabilities should accident happen. While guidelines are stipulated for the prescribed inspection/repair in the Code of Practice for MWIS as well as Practice Notes for Building Inspection (PNBI), the building owners may not be rest assured if their windows are properly inspected/repaired and certified by qualified persons who have sufficient technical knowledge and are capable of undertaking legal liabilities.

The seminar provides an in-depth review in the way how windows are inspected/repaired and rendered safe under the several aspects, i.e.

(i) Legal control under the Buildings Ordinance and Building (Inspection and Repair) Regulations;

(ii) Administrative control under the Building Authority;

(iii) Technical control through Code of Practice for MWIS and PNBI; and

(iv) Management control to supplement areas whereby technical control may not cover.

Speaker

Ir Albert Liu graduated from The University of Sydney, Australia with First Class Honours in Civil Engineering and specialized in Structural Engineering. Mr. Liu has many years of work experience mainly in engineering consultants for new building projects as well as alteration and addition works, providing structural engineering, architectural and project management services. He is conversant with the building control regime under the Buildings Ordinance and acquired the qualification of Authorized Person and Registered Structural Engineer in the 1990s.

In recent years, Mr. Liu provided consultancy services to building owners in carrying out MBIS and MWIS works. He grasps the legislations well and is well familiar with the administrative procedures. With his strong technical background and his intrinsic ability to resolve technical issues, he is going to share with the audience his substantive knowledge and extensive work experience to building professional and qualified persons in particular the safe window inspection.

Language
English and Cantonese

CPD Certificates

The registration includes a copy of the lecture notes, a copy of CPD certificate and tea refreshment.

Registration fees

Course fee: HK$300 each (HKISC member); HK$400 each (HKIE members or group of five); HK$500 each (others)

Registration Procedure

Please follow the 2-step registration procedure:

1. Fax the completed registration form to Mr Tommy LI (Fax: 852-2334 6389) for preliminary registration.

2. Post the completed registration form within 7 days together with a crossed cheque payable to Hong Kong Institute of Steel Construction Limited to Mr Tommy LI, at:

HKISC, c/o Room ZN 912, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

on or before the deadline.

Report