Upgrading Residential Lifts Safely

Residents are complaining about the safety of lifts installed in HDB flats. They were successful in finding flaws at how HDB, the Singaporean Housing & Development Board, administered the construction of lifts in residential buildings.

According to a report about the Solution for “half-landings” on Thursday, a lift landing, having been separated from the staircase, raised some concerns particularly on a resident who said, “If there's a fire or lift breakdown, people would be trapped.”

A simple solution, as residents see it, is to extend the lift landing at least by half a flight of stairs down to the current stairs. This does not require an extensive overhaul of the original design, yet will provide residents with more security and convenience.

According to HDB officials, issues such as this (including issues on security and privacy), is being considered in the board’s new designs. With these emergency buttons at lift landings, residents will be allowed to call for help in case of lift breakdowns or any emergencies.

Still, despite HDB’s measures, there are concerns that haven’t escaped the eyes of residents. They still have many questions such as: How does the emergency button at the lift landings work? Will a trapped resident get connected to an emergency hotline, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week? Is the hotline only available during office hours? Calls to the hotline number provided for lift maintenance have been found to be unanswered. In case this happens during an emergency, how will this keep the residents safe?