Marco Li Kwok Wai and Rachel Ronald secured acquittals for all three defendants on 15 industrial summonses in a workplace accident case

In HKSAR v Daikin Airconditioning (Hong Kong) Ltd (D1), Lau Wai-lung (D2) and Mak Shing Kee Engineering Ltd (D3) (ESS 33531–33544 & 33550/2025), Marco Li Kwok Wai represented D1 and Rachel Ronald represented D2 and D3. After a three-day trial before Deputy Magistrate Erica Chong in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts, all three defendants were acquitted, with costs.

The summonses were brought under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Cap. 59) and the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (Cap. 59I) following an accident. A worker fell while installing air ducts on rooftop air-conditioning units at a private residence and subsequently died.

All three defendants argued at trial that the work fell outside the statutory definition of “construction work” in the Third Schedule to Cap. 59, such that the premises were not a “construction site”. The Court accepted this submission and held that, although the air ducts formed part of the central air-conditioning system, the work did not come within any of the items of the Schedule relied on by the prosecution. Following R v Sime Darby Property Services Ltd [1993] 2 HKC 485, the Court found that an air-conditioning system is not part of a building and declined to extend the Schedule to routine air-conditioning work. The prosecution’s case therefore failed at the threshold on every summons.

The Court also accepted the submission made on behalf of D2 and D3 that the evidence did not establish that either of them had direct control of the work.

The Court awarded costs to all three defendants notwithstanding the prosecution’s objection.

Marco Li Kwok Wai, instructed by Pinsent Masons, acted for D1

Rachel Ronald, instructed by Humphrey & Associates, acted for D2 and D3