Hong Kong authorities have launched a public consultation on overhauling fire safety regulations, six months after the city’s deadliest inferno in decades, proposing to expand firefighters’ law enforcement powers and impose additional responsibilities on management firms and contractors.

The Security Bureau and the Fire Services Department on Tuesday began a one-month consultation exercise on proposed amendments to the Fire Services Ordinance and related subsidiary legislation. The proposals cover six major areas, ranging from fire safety system checks to new penalties for fire hazards.

“Our legislative proposals encompass six pillars and seek to achieve enhanced public safety, regulatory coherence, enforcement effectiveness and accountability,” the consultation paper said.

The sweeping changes form part of the government’s response to the devastating Wang Fuk Court blaze on November 26 last year. The 43-hour fire, which ravaged seven of the eight residential buildings in the Tai Po housing estate, killed 168 people and displaced about 5,000 residents.

Ongoing independent hearings into the disaster have revealed widespread loopholes across multiple government departments in regulating fire hazards and supervising the estate’s renovation project at the time.

The proposed legal amendments aim to strengthen oversight of fire safety equipment inspections, toughen penalties, expand the scope of stakeholders who can be held accountable for fire hazards, and enhance the department’s law enforcement powers.