Two companies fined HK$352,000 over Mirror concert incidents

Two companies were fined HK$352,000 over the incidents during the Mirror concerts last July that saw at least three dancers injured, including Mo Li Kai-yin who remains hospitalized to this day. 

The two companies are Studiodanz Co Ltd and Engineering Impact Ltd. The former was the contractor for the concerts’ stage and dancers, and the latter the contractor for the concerts’ engineering work. 

They pleaded guilty to nine counts of charges in the Kowloon City Court on Wednesday, including failing to ensure employees’ safety, failing to ensure plant or substances kept at premises were safe, and failing to take out insurance policy for employees. 

Studiodanz was fined HK$132,000 for five charges and Engineering Impact HK$220,000 for four charges. 

The court heard that 24 dancers including Li, Zisac Law Tak-chi and Chang Tsz-fung signed with Studiodanz to work as dancers for the concerts starting July 25. 

During the rehearsal on the first day of the concert, the elevator didn’t ascend the stage as expected and the lights were dim, causing Law to fall onto a platform about two to three meters below. Law sustained injuries to his chest and knees as well as a sprain to his neck. He was subsequently hospitalized. 

On July 28, a gigantic TV screen fell from above and hit Li and Chang. Li has been lying in a hospital bed even since. 

The court also heard that Studiodanz only debriefed the dancers shortly and then requested them to manually handle firework devices without any demonstration. Studiodanz was also revealed that it didn’t take out insurance policy for the dancers and notify the Labour Department of dancers’ injuries in time. 

As for Engineering Impact, the frame used for hanging the gigantic screen was purchased on the mainland and installed by its subcontractor Hip Hing Loong Stage Engineering Co Ltd, also a co-defendant. 

It was understood that personnel responsible for monitoring if the work was done properly could only use their naked eyes. 

According to expert analysis, the frame was of poor quality and overloaded. It also didn’t have any safety chain installed, resulting in metal fatigue. 

The department’s analysis also pointed out that without proper installation and monitoring, the TV screen’s falling was foreseeable.