Social media post shows construction worker smoking on bamboo scaffolding at residential building, prompting calls for company to act
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListenConnor MycroftPublished: 11:48pm, 25 Apr 2026An image of a Hong Kong construction worker smoking a cigarette while on bamboo scaffolding at a residential building has prompted outrage among internet users, who have drawn comparisons with the suspected cause of the city’s deadliest fire in decades.
An image shared on a Facebook page called the Shau Kei Wan Sai Wan Ho Concern Group showed a worker smoking a cigarette while standing on scaffolding erected around what was identified as Tai On Building.
A second worker in the same photo can be seen wearing a hard hat with the name of a local scaffolding company and its phone number shown.
“This is a matter of life and death; this person’s licence should be revoked,” one user wrote.
“Take note before this becomes a Wang Fuk 2.0,” another wrote, referring to the Tai Po fire, which killed 168 people last year.
