HONG KONG (CelebrityAccess) — A court in Hong Kong has hit three companies with fines after a giant video screen fell on performers during a show in the city in 2022.
The show, which featured the Cantopop boy band Mirror, took place at Hong Kong Coliseum on July 28th. During the show, a giant video screen broke loose from its moorings and plummeted to the stage below, pinning two dancers in the group. One was hospitalized with critical injuries that he is still recovering from, while a second dancer was hospitalized but escaped serious injury.
According to the The South China Morning Post, contactor Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company, was fined HK$420,000 ($54,000 USD) by the Kowloon City Court after it pleaded guilty to to six counts of failing to ensure the safety of their employees, failing to ensure that devices were safe and failing to notify authorities of accidents.
Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company faced the largest sanction but two other engineering companies, Engineering Impact and the Studiodanz Company, were hit with fines totaling HK$352,000 ($45,000) late last year, the South China Morning Post reported.
An official report on the incident from a government task force concluded in 2023 that a wire securing the screens failed due to metal fatigue, compounded by damage from a winch installation system that was not properly functioning.
The report also found that the weight of the LED panels was not accurately reported and that poor workmanship in the assembly and installation of the LED panel suspension system contributed to the accident.
According to the The South China Morning Post, a magistrate took Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Company to task over a failure to adequately inspect the panels after installation.
“I would call this an industry loophole,” acting principal magistrate David Ko Wai-hung, per the SCMP. “Just because it has not happened before, does not mean it will not happen in the future. As stage designs become more innovative and complicated, the greater the need for professionals to supervise and manage the equipment, instead of just relying on experience.”
