Statement by Census and Statistics Department regarding external chargers used in 2016 Population By-census

Published date: 19 July 2016

Last night (18 July) at a 2016 Population By-census field centre in Sha Tin, an external charger caught fire and a few small fragments flew out. There were no injuries in this incident.

The external charger concerned was procured by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) following the procedures stipulated in the Stores and Procurement Regulations, under which it strictly met the safety requirements specified by the Government.

As the safety of census officers is a prime concern of the C&SD, the department has stopped using all external chargers of the same model with immediate effect. As census officers will no longer carry the external charger concerned during fieldwork, households can rest assured that interviews will be conducted in a safe manner by census officers.

Last revision date: 19 July 2016