The incident at Mirror's concert was horrible and I hope the injured dancer gets well soon.
It is far too early to say the incident was an accident before a government task force and the police complete their separate investigations.
It is too early to call it an accident because there is a myriad of factors to look into if the parallel probes are to be thorough.
It was imprudent of functional constituency lawmaker Kenneth Fok Kai-kong to put pressure on the investigators to complete the probes quickly.
Instead, they should be allowed sufficient time to do their jobs properly, going through every tiny bit of the stage works - from design to equipment installation, from material chosen to metal fatigue.
Only then will the authorities be able to conduct an "autopsy" of the failed stage. In such a bizarre incident, even a faulty or substandard bolt could have been the culprit.
Eight weeks - as preliminary indicated by government officials - may seem too long for some, but it cannot be rushed.
Perhaps Fok should have pledged full support and let engineers and police do their jobs properly rather than pushing them to finish doing it quickly.
It is not a good idea to try to be cleverer than the experts when it comes to technical matters.
While concert organizers must be held responsible for the safety of the concert overall, the main contractor for the stage works, Engineering Impact Limited, undoubtedly bears a major responsibility even though it was subsequently revealed the stage works had been contracted out further to various subcontractors.
So far, Engineering Impact and its subcontractors have issued carefully worded statements that do not shed much useful light on the incident. They only gave a general idea of how their different parts of works were tied to each other.
It seems the first thing investigators should do is freeze all possible evidence.
What happened at Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom last Thursday was certainly the worst incident of its kind in the city's history and there are bound to be lessons to learn from it after investigations are completed.
Culture Secretary Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said he believed the current system for event organizers to find an authorized professional to sign off stage works was still the best arrangement.
Yeung may, or may not, be right.
If the investigations being conducted separately by a joint task force and West Kowloon regional crime unit point to a systemic concern, it will be necessary for Yeung to say whether the licensing system needs to be brought up to date. But it is still to early to draw that conclusion.
One thing is certain, though. Whenever an incident occurs, something has failed somewhere.
Concerts supported by colorful and vibrant dancers are a characteristic of show business in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, unlike in the West where concerts are often relatively static.
Which is better? This depends on the local audience - and reducing performance to simple forms may not suit the audience here.
