SINGAPORE – There were 16 cases of fallen windows in the first five months this year, the Building & Construction Authority (BCA) said on Sunday (June 5).

Of these, 11 were casement windows and five were sliding windows.

Most of the fallen casement windows were found to have corroded aluminium rivets which had loosened from the window stays, BCA said.

Most of the sliding windows that fell did not have safety stoppers and angle strips to secure the window panels, and the windows were not able to slide smoothly along the tracks, it added.

In its statement, BCA said that the incidents could have been prevented if homeowners had retrofitted aluminium rivets of casement windows with stainless steel ones and maintained their windows regularly.

“Falling windows pose a safety risk to the public given our highly built up environment. All windows are subject to wear and tear, and window parts can become loose or defective over time, causing windows to detach and fall,” said Er. Lim Beng Kwee, Director of BCA’s Special Functions Group.

Homeowners are required to engage an approved window contractor to carry out any installation or repair works to their windows.

When a window falls, homeowners responsible can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed up to six months for failing to replace aluminium rivets in casement windows with stainless steel rivets.

If a window falls due to lack of maintenance, the homeowner responsible may be fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed up to a year.

Since 2006, 303 people have been fined and 76 people have been prosecuted for fallen windows.

ljessica@sph.com.sg

Donor turning 70 in Dec has been giving blood since scooter accident 30 years ago

He will turn 70 in December, but Mr Zavier Roland Massang is still helping to save lives.

Since he was involved in a scooter accident 30 years ago that required surgery and a blood transfusion, Mr Massang has been paying back the favour from other donors by being a regular one himself.

With 76 units of blood donated to date, Mr Massang – currently the national blood programme’s oldest donor – was recognised yesterday at an event held at the Singapore Sports Hub to mark World Blood Donor Day. He was among 1,450 people presented with awards for their contributions to the nation’s blood bank.

Data from the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) and Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said there were 112,000 blood donations last year, an increase of 35 per cent from the 83,600 in 2005. Each donation yields a 450ml unit of blood.

The donor pool has also grown by 39 per cent from 51,000 to 71,000 during the same period.

But with one in four people in Singapore predicted to be aged 65 and over by 2030, SRC chairman Tee Tua Ba said the country faces a “double-edged” challenge.

“On the one hand, we risk a decline in blood supply as blood donors mature and are more susceptible to health problems. On the other hand, we expect an increase in the demand for blood, as the elderly develop health complications that require blood transfusion.”

Forecasts project that there will be an increase of 3 per cent to 5 per cent in blood needs every year. By 2030, it is estimated that more than 220,000 units of bloods will be needed each year.

To address this, the SRC is looking to increase the proportion of those aged between 16 and 35 in the donor base, from the current 28 per cent to 35 per cent by 2030.

Besides using outreach methods such as social media and mobile apps, the SRC wants to include an introduction to blood donation in the school curriculum at primary and secondary levels.

While most in this demographic are not eligible to donate – the minimum age is 16 – Mr Benjamin William, SRC’s secretary-general, said it is good to “inculcate the habit of blood donation” at a young age.

Mr Massang has no plans to stop giving blood. The age limit for first-time blood donors is 60. When regular donors hit 65, they must go for a health check-up.

After 70, check-ups will be done yearly, and a donor’s eligibility will be reviewed by the HSA.

Mr Massang recalled how he first found giving blood “rough”.

“I had a fear of the needle and the sight of blood,” he said. “But after a couple of times, I overcame it.”

adrianl@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on June 5, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

SRC holds event to promote blood donation amongst youths

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Singapore Red Cross

SINGAPORE – She sparked an outrage and a massive online witch hunt when a video of her now-famous tirade against a deaf and mute cleaner went viral over the Internet. Now, less than two days after the clip was shared online, the woman in the video has apologised and given her side of the story.

Identified only as Madam Fong, the 37-year-old was quoted in Shin Min Daily News as saying that she had been down with the flu on Friday (June 3), the day of the incident.

After taking half a day off from work, Madam Fong went to the foodcourt at Jem for lunch at around noon.

However, she was irked when she saw that there were dirty objects in her food and as a result, felt like she was down in her luck. She told the Chinese daily that she was planning on taking photos of her plate to lodge a complaint with the food court management. Just then, a cleaner approached the table and proceeded to clear the plates.

Woman loses cool at deaf and mute cleaner at Jem food court

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Facebook video screengrabs

She said she told him three times not to remove her plate, but he continued to do so and also stared at her.

As there was no indication that he might have been handicapped, she did not suspect that he was both deaf and mute, she explained.

A video uploaded by netizen Euphemia Lee shows that Madam Fong berated the cleaner loudly. According to Ms Lee, when Madam Fong learned that he could not hear or speak, she told his supervisor that he was better off being a “beggar”.

In her interview with Shin Min Daily News, Madam Fong said that she had said those words in a fit of anger, and now feels sorry for it. She also claimed that she had spoken to the cleaner’s supervisor and come to a consensus with him over the incident.

Nonetheless, Madam Fong said she was not apologising for the entire incident, insisting that she was not entirely at fault.

And the cleaner at the centre of the storm seemed to agree. He indicated to Shin Min Daily News that he was not angry at Madam Fong, and did not think she should apologise. Instead, he felt that he was in the wrong first, and was worried that she might be unhappy over the incident.

However, a man identified by Shin Min Daily News as the cleaner’s brother felt that Madam Fong had humiliated the cleaner, and that her behaviour was inhumane.

Since the video was uploaded on Friday evening, it has been shared close to 28,000 times with many netizens expressing shock and anger and calling her names like “lowlife” and “swine”.

Despite this, Madam Fong says she isn’t an evil person and told the Chinese tabloid that her conscience is clear. She does not intend on shying away from her daily work routine, and plans on making a police report about the threats made against her online.

She also clarified that she was neither a grassroots leader nor a volunteer.

ljessica@sph.com.sg