Construction firms will be able to save $350 a month for each foreign worker on their staff – after they send them for safety training.

The discount on levies will begin in October and cover foreign workers with at least six years’ construction experience in Singapore who are certified by the Building and Construction Authority.

Bosses will also be allowed to keep their foreign staff for longer.

The incentives were announced yesterday by Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan and follow a spate of 40 deaths in the workplace since January.

Seventeen were from the construction sector, double that of the same period last year. The sector also had the highest number of fatalities for the whole of last year.

“Concerted and urgent action must be taken to improve workplace safety,” said Mr Tan at an industry event.

Workers must finish at least 120 hours of training in approved safety courses or get an advanced certificate under the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualification framework.

These work permit holders will be upgraded to a R1 status.

Construction firms pay a levy of between $300 and $950 a month for each foreign worker they hire or have on their current staff.

The amount varies depending on whether firms stay within the allocated number of foreign workers per project. The number is calculated based on a formula called the Man Year Entitlement.

If a worker qualifies for the R1 scheme, firms need pay only between $300 and $600 a month for him. The rate will be revised again next year.

Workers on the R1 scheme can also be hired for up to 22 years – 12 more than their lower-skilled counterparts.

“Employers will also have greater flexibility in deploying these multi-skilled workers onsite, reducing downtime and improving productivity,” said Mr Tan.

The long-term goal is to encourage a strong safety and health (WSH) culture in Singapore.

Last month, the Manpower Ministry (MOM) raised the minimum time for companies ordered to stop work, from two to three weeks.

Companies also risk being deprived of new foreign workers until they have resolved safety issues.

The MOM inspected more than 800 construction and marine worksites. Inspectors found more than 1,000 WSH violations. More than 22 stop-work orders and 300 fines were issued to 117 firms.

Kenneth Loo, president of the Singapore Contractors Association, said it proposed a scheme to recognise workers who are trained in safety.

“Saving on levy is one thing,” he said. “The main thing is that workers can work longer, and with experience, it can enhance safety standards in the construction industry.”

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A Singapore-based company which created a mobile app that claims to be able to aid refugees adrift at sea has denied widespread allegations that it is a fake.

I SEA, developed by Grey for Good, the philanthropic arm of digital advertising agency Grey Group Singapore, has been pulled from Apple’s App Store for breaching guideline 1.1.6, which bans “false information and features”.

The app says it has the ability to scan the Mediterranean Sea for migrant ships, and purportedly employs real-time satellite data that allows users to spot, tag and report a vessel in distress.

This information is then relayed to the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station – Grey Group’s client for the app – so that the authorities can send help.

But outside developers who tested the app have flagged it as a dud, revealing that I SEA “pretends” to distribute satellite footage of different parts of the sea to the app’s users, but instead uses the same image.

Some noted that the weather information provided is also taken from West Libya.

The controversy has made it to the websites of newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Guardian.

In an e-mail statement to The Straits Times yesterday, Grey Group’s chief communications officer, Owen Dougherty, insisted the app was real.

He added: “We said it was in a testing stage and they have some satellite issues to work out. For some reason, a developer unknown to us has pushed the story that it is fake or a hoax.

“Grey Group is one of the most creatively awarded global agencies around and we adhere to the highest ethical standards.”

International news websites such as Reuters, Mashable and Wire, which covered the app’s launch last week, conveyed the impression it was functional. No mention was made of it being in testing.

Aided by a slick promotional video and its strong humanitarian concept, I SEA won a Bronze award at the Cannes Lions 2016, an international advertising festival held in France, on Monday.

Cannes Lions chairman Terry Savage, who spoke to The Economic Times, said the organisers will wait till after the festival is over to investigate the allegations and “take whatever appropriate measures we need to”.

A check on the Apple App Store yesterday afternoon confirmed that I SEA was no longer available for download. It was also not listed as a test app.

Said its description on the App Store: “The app divides the satellite image of the sea into millions of small plots and assigns each user a unique plot of the sea to monitor.”

When contacted by The Straits Times, an Apple spokesman declined to comment.

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RESIDENTS returning home to Block 28B in Dover Crescent during lunch yesterday were left helpless when all four lifts serving their 40-storey Housing Board block lost power for close to an hour.

While some waited for the lift service to be restored, others resorted to climbing the stairs.

Jess Thia, who is in her 40s, said she was coming back from lunch at around 12.30pm when she noticed all the lifts were out of action.

Ms Thia, who is self-employed, said many who were affected by the lift stoppage were elderly residents and housewives.

Two of the block’s four lifts serve units from the first floor to the 21st floor while the other two serve the first and 22nd to 40th.

Read also: Woodlands residents stranded for 4 hours after all three lifts break down

Woodlands residents stranded for 4 hours after all 3 lifts break down

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Stomp

Ms Thia, who lives on the 38th floor, climbed up 33 floors before the lifts started working again. “It looked easy at the start but after 10 floors, I had to take a break,” she said.

Ms Thia, who has lived in the block for the past six years, has noticed that the two lifts serving the higher floors would take turns to break down almost every month.

Another resident, who wanted to be known as Mrs Wong, said for elderly residents living on higher levels, lift breakdowns are unacceptable.

“They may not be able to climb up 20 to 30 floors to get back to their homes,” the housewife added.

West Coast Town Council, which manages the lifts in the estate, said the power supply trip happened at 12.26pm.

After receiving a resident’s call, it immediately informed its lift and electrical term contractors and staff. According to the town council, the lifts resumed operation at 1.17pm.

It noted that this is the first time such an incident – where a power supply trip caused all four lifts to stop work – has taken place. It is investigating the cause of the trip.

calyang@sph.com.sg

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Certificates of entitlement (COEs) ended higher again in the latest tender yesterday, as the easing of car-financing rules continued to fan pent-up demand.

The increases were, however, not as sharp as the double-digit rises posted in the previous round immediately after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) sprung its surprise move to relax car-loan curbs late last month.

COE cost for cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp rose by 2.8 per cent to end at $55,200. That for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp crept up by 1.8 per cent to hit $57,010.

The premium for Open COE, which can be used for any vehicle type but ends up mostly for bigger cars, climbed 4.2 per cent to finish at $57,390.

All these costs are at their highest level this year, driven up by the car-loan changes and aggressive bidding from private-hire players.

The Land Transport Authority recently blocked free access to bidders’ information, which was available before Uber and company began growing their fleets aggressively.

Nicholas Wong, general manager of Honda agent Kah Motor, said: “There were 200 to 300 bids submitted in the last minutes.

“It might have been private-hire companies but we have no way of verifying now.”

Mr Wong said premiums are likely to remain high as motor firms “collected a lot of orders” after the MAS announcement.

Commercial vehicle COE cost rose by 3.4 per cent to end at a three-month high of $48,002.

Motorcycle COE premium ended $1 higher at $6,303.

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A GOVERNMENT review on public parking prices is under way, in a move that is set to raise prices at all public carparks.

The Housing Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) both confirmed yesterday that an islandwide review of both short-term and season parking schemes is in the works.

This comes just two months after the Ministries of National Development and Transport said in Parliament that parking rates would go up, to bring Singapore in line with other global cities.

URA said its review is meant to “right price public carpark charges and reduce the gap between the fees charged by private and public carparks”, adding that the quantum of increase was being studied.

It noted that in some areas in the Central Business District, the difference between private and public hourly parking prices during peak periods was over 100 per cent.

Meanwhile, the HDB pointed out that its carparks have improved over the years, with amenities such as landscaped decks, electronic parking systems and lifts.

But both agencies noted that the last price revision was in 2002, when short-term parking prices increased about 10 per cent. Carparking charges in the Restricted Zone (RZ) rose from 90 cents to $1 per half-hour, and from 45 cents to 50 cents per half-hour outside the RZ.

“Since then, the costs of managing and operating carparks have increased substantially,” said a URA spokesman. Before the 2002 review, prices were also hiked in 1993 and 1989. In all cases, the increase was over 10 per cent.

The HDB is also studying differentiated season parking charges for non-residents who use HDB carparks, and those who own more than one car. It said differentiated rates could help manage demand, with priority given to a resident’s first car.

The HDB and URA manage 607,000 and 24,000 parking spaces respectively.

Motorists hope prices would not increase beyond 10 per cent.

“Already, we spend a substantial amount on our cars,” said technopreneur Toh Kian Khai, 34.

Parking policy expert Dr Paul Barter said a review was timely but recommended taking a more nuanced approach.

Prices should be set based on the occupancy rate of carparks. Ideally, they should only be 85 per cent full at any one time so that there are always parking spaces available. Rates could be raised during peak periods and lowered in the off-peak, he added.

“If it’s too full, it’s too cheap, and if it’s too empty, it’s too expensive,” he said.

dansonc@sph.com.sg

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TELEVISION actress Lu Rui En was yesterday charged with one count of careless driving, for knocking over a motorcycle in a carpark in April.

The 35-year-old actress, who did not have a lawyer, told District Judge Carol Ling she intends to plead guilty.

She is expected to enter her plea in a Traffic Court next Friday.

Rui En knocks down bike in alleged drink-driving accident

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The New Paper, Lianhe Wanbao, The Straits Times

Lu is accused of failing to have proper control of her black BMW when driving into a carpark near Block 331 Clementi Avenue 2 at about 4.15pm on April 12. Her car mounted a kerb before crashing into a parked yellow and black Bajaj RS200 motorcycle.

Lu, who was accompanied to court by two women, was calm as the charge was read to her. Outside court, the Hype Records artiste told reporters she did not intend to engage a lawyer. In response to questions, she would say only in Mandarin: “Thank you, everyone, for your concern.”

Lu was dressed in a white top with a white jacket and black trousers. She was picked up in a Honda Civic outside the State Courts.

If convicted of driving without due care and attention, Lu faces a fine of up to $1,000, jail of up to six months or both.

The crash made the news when Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that the motorcycle owner, Bahrom Sarmiten, 52, did not recognise the actress and when he confronted her, she said to him: “Do you know who I am?”

Later, he found out she was a well-known local artiste.

Five days after the incident, Lu won an All Time Favourite Artiste award at the annual Star Awards for Mediacorp entertainment.

She also offered him $2,000 to settle the matter privately, Mr Bahrom said, but he declined the offer as he thought it would not cover the repair costs for the damage to his vehicle, which he had bought for $13,300 three months earlier.

Policemen later administered a breathalyzer test on Lu before they took her away for investigations.

Later, Lu’s manager said the actress’ remarks were meant to assure Mr Bahrom she would not flee.

Lu herself later said she had “misjudged a turn”.

Apologising for the incident at the Star Awards on April 17, she told the audience: “Regarding the recent incident – it’s still under investigation, so before the full report is out, I hope you can all forgive me.

“I’m unable to answer the media at this point but I hope to apologise for whatever inconveniences this has caused… I am very sorry.”

At the end of her speech, she gave a deep bow.

Rui En apologises for accident at Star Awards 2016

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Video screengrabs

In January, Lu was reportedly involved in another incident. She hit another car while driving a white BMW along Lornie Road towards Adam Road.

The incident on Jan 6 was recorded by the in-vehicle camera of the damaged car.

Lu reached a private settlement in that case.

amirh@sph.com.sg

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