Hong Kong’s Coroner’s Court has ruled the death of a government-employed arborist an accident, rejecting her family’s claims of gross negligence.
Tsang Choi-yu, a 55-year-old arborist employed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, died on August 18, 2021. She was trimming trees at the intersection of Des Voeux Road West and Water Street in Sai Wan, when the crane she was on broke.
West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.
At around 9.36 in the morning, the gondola, in which Tsang and another colleague were conducting greening works, fell and slammed into the vehicle to which the crane was attached.
Tsang was sent to Queen Mary Hospital, where she succumbed to an accumulation of blood in her chest, and was pronounced dead.
‘Gross negligence’ claims rejected
The LCSD along with the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) were listed as the respondents in the inquest. Coroner Arthur Lam on Tuesday ruled Tsang’s death an accident, according to local media.
Lam cited testimony given by Lawrence Wu from the City University of Hong Kong’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering that although the break was caused by metal fatigue, there was no way to ascertain the extent of the damage at the time of the incident.
55-year-old arborist Tsang Choi-yu died on August 18, 2021 after the crane she was on broke down. Photo: Adrienne Leung, via Facebook.
The court earlier heard that the crane had been inspected five months prior to the incident, according to The Witness.
Factors cited by Tsang’s family as either direct or indirect causes of her death, including the metal fatigue on the crane, could only be considered to be accidental, Lam said.
For Tsang’s death to be considered an instance of gross negligence, a reasonably prudent person would have to have been able to foresee a grave and fatal danger, which was not the case in this incident, Lam said.
Lam accepted the EMSD’s submission that it had taken steps to order inspections for all load-bearing machinery, and advised the department to specify its proposed frequency of an ultrasonic inspection every two years in an internal memo.
