The scaffold safety inspection “Form 5” certificate at 550 Nathan Road is heavily doctored with white-out and featured an inspection date from the future.

Police, ICAC and the Buildings Department have refused to take any action against two Kowloon bamboo scaffold sites found using apparently forged safety documents.

Two forged safety certificates were discovered during an investigation into renovation scaffolding safety on Nathan Road in the wake of the Tai Po fire tragedy which killed 161 people.

Scaffolding safety certificates at both Lung Ma Building and Chuang’s London Plaza on Nathan Road bore signed “safety inspections” dated in the future.

The Lung Ma Building form was also doctored with white-out, indicating only the date was changed every time an “inspection” took place, with the “findings” of the safety inspection remaining unchanged each time.

A safety inspector signed a safety inspection with a date in the future

In both cases, the safety inspector’s information is  illegible, with the Chuang’s London Plaza form signed across several dates by one word –  “Roy” – in childlike handwriting.

The penalty for a “competent person” or safety inspector making a false report is a HK$200,000 fine and imprisonment for 12 months.

In response to a report of the Lung Ma Building issue made at ICAC headquarters in November 2025, an ICAC officer said it was not an ICAC matter but could be considered a “clear case of forgery” and recommended reporting the issue to the police.

Police have not responded to reports and multiple email follow-ups regarding these cases which were first reported to the relevant police stations on 28 November 2025 for Lung Ma Building and 4 December 2025 for Chuang’s London Plaza.

Buildings Department said in a letter on 7 January 2026 it had inspected the site at Chuang’s London Plaza in Jordan and found “no obvious danger”, closing the case and referring any other documentary irregularities to Labour Department.

It has yet to inspect the renovation site at Lung Ma Building in Yau Ma Tei.

Labour Department has not yet returned any substantive response.

While Buildings Department dismisses the issues with “no obvious danger”, the scaffold at Chuang’s London Plaza clearly breaches the government’s own safety guidelines. Bamboo scaffolds are not allowed to be attached to public property such as traffic lights or safety railings and must be supported by the permanent, structurally sound elements of a building.

Every scaffolding site along Nathan Road was in breach of the law or the government’s safety guidelines.

In fact, of around 20 urban bamboo scaffolds inspected in Kowloon, only the two with the forged certificates had legally-required safety inspection reports attached.

Aside from a lack of documentation, all other scaffolds were in breach of government guidelines. Most were secured, illegally, to public facilities such as traffic lights or safety railings, and almost all created hazards or obstructions to passing pedestrians, including many with low beams and exposed sharp ends facing pedestrian flow.