Smoking will be prohibited at construction sites in Hong Kong starting July 17, following a government proposal submitted to the legislature after the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po last November.
The government introduced three amendments to existing ordinances to improve fire safety at the sites on Tuesday.
“Since the tragic fire which occurred in Tai Po in November 2025, there has been strong community consensus for implementing a comprehensive smoking ban in construction sites to reduce fire risk and enhance safety,” a Labour and Welfare Bureau paper submitted to the Legislative Council stated.
Two of the amendments will be tabled on May 27 for negative vetting and will take effect on July 17.
Construction sites will be designated no-smoking areas, and the Labour Department will be tasked with enforcement. Workers violating the law face a fixed fine of HK$3,000 (US$383).
A third amendment, which will be vetted by lawmakers, calls for imposing a fine of up to HK$400,000 on contractors who fail to prevent smoking at their sites.
It will take effect upon gazettal after Legco’s approval.
Negative vetting is a process used for subsidiary legislation where a law is published in the Government Gazette and tabled in Legco to take effect automatically on a specified date unless lawmakers actively intervene.
Currently, smoking in an outdoor area of a construction site is only illegal if it occurs near flammable materials. Such cases typically result in a no-smoking order rather than prosecution.
The government document said the current law was severely limited as it failed to cover workers who carried a lit smoking product or used a naked flame to light them if the labourer was not caught inhaling.
The new changes explicitly closed the loophole by making it illegal to even hold a lit conventional or alternative smoking product anywhere on site, the document said.
Smoking by construction workers is suspected to have caused the blaze at Wang Fuk Court, which was undergoing renovation at the time.
Residents said they complained to authorities, but an independent committee investigating the blaze heard that no prosecutions were initiated despite 17 checks by department staff.
Inspectors were unable to catch smokers in the act or trace the origins of the cigarette butts found there.
The fire on November 26 last year killed 168 people and displaced about 5,000 residents.
